Vagabond Explorer Vol 1

Take the orer l p x E

d n Vagabo e!

Challeng

A CITY CLAIMED BY THE SEA

The struggle for survival at the epicenter of Japan’s worst natural disaster

BECOMING A TRAVELER How to ditch the cubicle

TRAVEL FOREVER

A HAZE OF SEX & BEER

Starting an independent travel business

in Ethopia’s Addis Ababa

HOPPING PASSENGER TRAINS

GÖBEKLI TEPE

Ride for free across Australia

Archaeologists in Turkey rewrite prehistory

THE POSTMODERN VAGABOND

Rolf Potts speaks on 21st century travel

Vagabond Explorer Volume 1, 2011

How to Choose a Camera to Take Vagabonding t Finding Love in Colombia t Flooding in the Philippines t Travel Q&A t Blog Reviews

CONTENTS YOU ARE HERE

Hopping Passenger Trains Across Australia A City Claimed by the Sea The struggle for survival at the epicenter of Japan’s worse natural disaster

Tips for Starting an Independent Travel Business

Göbekli Tepe 2 VAGABOND EXPLORER

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Welcome |

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| Bienvenido

Those who say that it’s a small world are not looking far enough out into the distance. Try to chase a horizon, I dare you, and you will quickly find how big, diverse, complex, beautiful, and intriguing planet Earth is.

This first volume of Vagabond Explorer magazine takes as its theme: “What is out there and how to get there.” It’s to be an exploration of global culture, current events, opinion, and philosophy spoken from the apex of experience. The pages that follow contain articles written by long term travelers about what they see, feel, experience, and think as they make tracks over planet earth: from Rolf Potts talking about finding the essence is postmodern travel to Michael Robert Powell telling us about life in the underbelly of Addis Ababa, from Ani St.Amand demonstrating how to steal rides on passenger trains to Steve Mendoza sharing his experience of surviving Japan’s worst recorded natural disaster.

Some of these stories may entertain you, while others may make you weep, some may even disgust you, while others may leave you inspired. It is with this that I leave you to dig into this magazine and to carrying on with your own vagabond explorations of this magnificent planet. I’ll meet you out there.

Wade Shepard, Editor

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Love in Colombia A Haze of Sex and Beer Becoming a Traveler The Postmodern Vagabond Faces from the Floods

Travel Tips Reviews Travel Blogs of Note Dear Vagabond Vagabond Challenge vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

THE VAGABOND EXPLORER TEAM Editor, Wade Shepard Wade has been chomping at the bit for the right to combine his name and the word “Editor” in the same clause since the fifth grade. The publication of this magazine you are looking at right now finally made this a reality. Wade has been traveling around the world for the past 12 years and is the founder of vagabondjourney.com.

Gretchen Kalav-Wilson is the editor of Travelblogs.com, and it would be an understatement to say that she has a handle on what is going on in the travel blogging world. With this in mind, I could think of nobody better to take the reins of the travel blog review section of Vagabond Explorer. Here, Gretchen gives overviews of a few of her favorite blogs, examines their strengths, what separates them from the fray, and why you should read them.

Jasmine Stephenson felt that she needed a big change after graduating from university in Florida, and Graphic Design & Layout, Craig Heimburger promptly headed across the country to Arizona. But this move seems to only have stirred up her wanderCraig Heimburger was truly the Tenzing Norgay of this operation, taking hold of Vagabond Explorer lust, and, after a fateful incident in a Mesa Wal-Mart, she sold all of her possessions and hopped on a jet magazine and hauling it up to the summit. Officially serving as the magazine’s graphic designer, to New Zealand. Jasmine has not looked back since, having traveled through Oceania, Southeast Asia, he went far beyond the realm of this duty and served as a major creative force in all aspects of Trinidad, Italy, and South America. Currently, she is in Colombia after unexpectedly falling in love, a story which she shares for us in this issue of Vagabond Explorer.

publication. Working for over 200 hours with his right (mousing) hand broken and completely covered by a cast, Craig kicked some major ass as he put this magazine together piece by Michael Robert Powell is a wanderer without plans, living out of a backpack and traveling the world piece. Heimburger has been wandering around the world and living abroad for the past 5½ years. since 1988. He has explored 100+ countries & territories and today continues his minimalist, globalnomadic existence in pursuit of knowledge, fun and freedom. Michael contributed A Haze of Sex and He’s a photographer, writer, nomad, father, husband, and the founder of travelvice.com.

Marketing & Social Media, Rachael Albers The newest member of the Vagabond Journey team, Rachael showed up with the first issue of Vagabond Explorer. She is the workhorse that puts this magazine in public view, runs social media, and interacts with the media. Want to talk about Vagabond Explorer? Look her up: vagabondjourney.com/pressmedia.pdf.

The Writers

Ani St. Amand came out of nowhere and joined the Vagabond Journey team as a travel guide researcher a few months ago. Giving a distinct vagabond edge to guides she authored, it became clear that Ani backs up her words with experience. She is truly a modern day hobo, hopping freight trains and stealing rides on passenger trains all over this earth. Ani penned a story about stealing rides on passenger trains in Australia for this issue of Vagabond Explorer.

Dave is a mystery man of world travel. Wade has known him for a couple years now and still doesn’t know his country of origin or what he even looks like. For the past six years Dave has been traveling perpetually looking for a place to call home, and so far his journeys have taken him across dozens of countries, entire continents, and from sea to sea — literally. Dave is one of the few modern travelers who has traveled overland from the Atlantic coast of Portugal to the Pacific coast of China. After completing this journey, Dave jumped to the Philippines and spent the next two years traveling there. Dave is currently traveling slow through Southeast Asia, checking out all his options before claiming a place as his home.

Follow his journey at thelongestwayhome.com.

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Beer in Addis Ababa to this issue. To read about some more insane adventures, visit his online home at thecandytrail.com.

Sam Langley broke out of a cubicle in Cleveland a year ago and has not yet looked back. Exchanging a life in the insurance sector for one on the open road, Sam has already travel from Mexico to the southern tip of Patagonia. Growing comfortable as a world traveler, he often goes far off the beaten path, blazing his own way through the world. Sam blogs about his post-cubicle life and travels at cubicleditcher.vagabondjourney.com.

Steven Mendoza has spent many years living and traveling around Japan. Learning to speak Japanese and getting the hang of life there, he settled into a long term English teaching position in Minamisanriku.

Unfortunately, his term as a teacher was cut terminally short as this city was very literally washed away by the sea. Steve found himself at the epicenter of what came to be called the Great East Japan Earthquake, the worst natural disaster ever recorded in the country’s history. Here in Vagabond Explorer, Steve gives a riveting play by play of the struggle for survival in the midst of this crisis.

Get in touch with Vagabond Explorer Magazine: vagabondsong@gmail.com

(585) 454-9117 t USA Media inquiries: vagabondjourneytravel@gmail.com Front & back cover photos: The endless expanse of dunes surrounding Huacachina, Peru t Craig Heimburger vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

VAGABOND TACTICS

Hopping Passenger Trains Across Australia

STORY: ANI ST. AMAND

IT WAS LATE SUMMER in the southern hemisphere and I had been traveling in Australia for only two weeks when a friend told me about IronFest. Nothing sounded better to me than jousting, battle reenactments and blacksmithing in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney, so I was off. I bid my friends in Melbourne adieu, left a few belongings at their house, and hitched north with an umbrella I’d found along the roadside and a sign that read “Sydney.”

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everal rides and many hours later on the 850 km journey, I found myself only a third of the way to my destination, standing on the side of a desolate on-ramp in the light rain as the sun sank. A car eventually pulled over. My eyes trace the curled mustache of a grinning man as he quips, “get in.” It’s a convoluted small world, and he turns out to be the father of a friend of a friend from the states. We laugh and share stories. I tell him that I’m interested in sleeping near the small rail yard in Albury, where I’m sure that I can watch freight trains change crews. The rain continues, and he says that he won’t hear of it. I sleep on his couch instead. Early the next morning he drops me off at an onramp several kilometers from his house with a bag of granola and his best wishes. The wind blows slow and cool, the sky clear, and I leave my umbrella at the roadside for the next hitchhiker.

Arriving in Sydney during the evening’s rush hour, I made my way to Sydenham where I heard there was a show in a squatted warehouse. I attend the show, and I don’t leave the warehouse after 2am. It had just finished raining and I found an out-of-the-way place to sleep on top of a metal 40-foot shipping container near the warehouse. I unintentionally slept-in and had to rush to pack my things before the sun raised high in the sky above me.

A short walk brought me to the small Sydenham metro station. There were no turnstiles and no transit officer on duty; just a flight of stairs leading to the train platforms

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worried. One of the things that help me stay calm in many situations is always having a story ready: I just got off a train and don’t know where to buy another ticket for travel… I’m waiting for a friend to purchase our tickers...

Can’t I buy a ticket once I’m on the train?

Eventually the electronic board announces that the countdown has ended: 0 minutes until the arrival of my train. A while later, it arrives. I board with others and take a seat near the front of the train. I don’t like getting caught so I’m always on the lookout for transit officers on the platforms at stations, ready to get off at a moment's notice if I see an officer.

I imagine that it’s a giant game of cat and mouse. Stay alert, watch for transit officers. One eye on the platforms, below. I smile to myself and walk past the ticket machines the other on my book. A friend of mine has worked for to wait with the other passengers for an inbound train.

Amtrak as a conductor for over a decade. He tells me These metro trains are operated by RailCorp. Though that he can tell just by looking through the passenger the company is purported to have employed 600 tran- car who has paid and who hasn’t, by reading people's sit and “revenue protection” officers since the creation body language. When a transit officer boards before I of the position in 2002 – 400 can jump off, I try to appear relaxed, calm. Usually there are two of them, of whom operate on CityRail working from either ends of the cars trains within NSW’s metro areas – I was rarely bothered toward the middle. Keep reading.

They are slow moving, so I hope by their presence. for a stop, get up calmly, make eye As expected, I didn’t see a contact, and smile. Get off the train. transit officer on my ride to Usually it works.

Sydney Central until I arrived at the metro station. Already near the train platform from If I’m the only one disembarking, I'll watch their body where I would catch the Blue Mountain Line train, I saw language. I know that they’re paying attention to me. Are little point in walking all the way out of the turnstiles to the they going to stop me, ask to see my ticket? building's entrance to purchase a ticket for travel. Beside A few times I’ve acted like I was in a rush, answering “Yes, the inconvenience of it, I hadn’t intended to pay for a and this is my stop” in an irritated voice. They’ll let me go. ticket anyway, so the matter was settled: I would simply In a country with such a large tourism industry, it’s very remain on the platform and step right onto my next train. often my foreign accent alone that gets me out of trouble sat on my backpack, resting against a wall on the like this. It's ridiculous and I know that I am amazingly platform while I waited. I stared at the feet of other privileged, but I allow myself to accept this concession passengers as they passed by. I watched some; indeci- and play the tourist role now and then. sive, pausing, blocking the flow of traffic. I see two pairs But if I can tell a transit officer going to corner me, I’ll turn of boots walk by, trace the contours up past the batons it around on them: keep eye contact, approach them, and handcuffs to the blue Transit Officer shirts. I’m not and speak first. I will explain to them that I just boarded ▶

“I

imagine that it’s a giant game of cat and mouse. Stay alert, watch for transit officers.

One eye on the platforms, the other on my book.”

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and want to know where the ticket machines are. Explain to them that there’s been a misunderstanding. They’re not expecting a guilty party to step up and admit that there’s something wrong, so usually I get out of a fine.

RailCorp issues an AUD$200-500 fine to passengers who fail to purchase a ticket. I’ve never been issued such a fine. I’ve talked myself out of several, once handing an officer a twenty dollar bill and asking for a ticket to the next stop. I looked like an idiot, but at least I wasn’t an idiot who was out 200 bucks. Back in my own country, the United States, when I can’t talk myself out of a fine I just try to avoid using that specific train service. There are so many other ways to reach one's destination.

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eaving Sydney on the Blue Mountain Line we travel west for some time. The platforms vary from side to side and the towns shrink in size. Eventually, I see two of the distinctive blue shirts with radios waiting to my left. Since I’m at the front of the train, we pass some considerable distance by them before the doors open. I wait near the entrance, ready to jump off. They never get on, so I sit back down. "Wrong stop," I say to someone sitting next to me.

“RailCorp issues an AUD$200-500 fine to passengers who fail to purchase a ticket. I’ve never been issued such a fine.”

It’s about a three hour ride to Lithgow, my destination in the Blue Mountains. I settle back down with my book, looking up when the train starts to slow. A bit later I find myself confronted with a similar situation. This time, the officers board and I disembark just in time.

The wind has picked up and the temperature has dropped.

I check the schedule. A two-hour wait until the next train.

I pull out my sleeping bag, wrap it around myself, and try to take a nap on a bench on the outdoor platform. Two loaded coal trains pass while I rest. They are headed to ports in Newcastle; this line services many mines along its route. It occurs to me that a coal train would be less of a hassle to hop than this passenger train, but I’m heading out of the city toward the mines, and the trains running in this direction are sure to be empty and headed out to the hills.

Finally, the next passenger train arrives, and I am glad to see it. The journey through the Blue Mountains is ▶

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breathtaking. I stare out the window as the tracks wind through the mountains, overlooking vast eucalyptus forests. It’s late April and autumn has come to this region of the country. Winds sweep through deep canyons and up over high ridges, pounding relentlessly against steep cliffs.

do feel better for every dollar I hang onto and spend in a community that I respect, rather than giving it to an international corporation that is accountable to few of the world’s citizens.

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e approach Lithgow, and I am happy to see that there are no turnstiles for me to swipe my ticket hen European settlers first approached the Blue a second time before leaving; only stairs. I smile and Mountains, they considered these geographical climb. The electrified tracks are set down low between features to be impassable. Unbeknownst to them at the the streets. Lithgow is picturesque, a dramatic sky over time, at least six different groups of aboriginals had lived red roofs and old wooden and brick buildings. I find my in this area for thousands of years before the arrival of way to the fairgrounds and come to an agreement with white colonists. the volunteer coordinator. I’ll get a weekend pass into IronFest in exchange for two hours of help each mornThe creation stories of these indigenous peoples speak ing. I spend my day watching jousting matches and the first of vast and empty lands. Then the Dreamtime came, crowd of people. Cannons periodically go off, sending and the giant creatures that had been sleeping for countplumes of white smoke into the grey skies. less ages awoke and rose up out of the flatlands. These beings took the form of animals, plants and humans. The night is long. I find an unoccupied canvas structure They traveled across the lands, creating rivers, valleys, to hide under from the rains, but the winds find me. I try and mountains. Not a single physical landmark exists to lash the tarps together more tightly for protection, but on the face of the land today that was not created and in the end give up and crawl into the giant vinyl bag that influenced by the Dreamtime beings. But their journeys the tent gets stored in. I wrap myself in trash bags inside exhausted them and eventually the Dreamtime creatures of my sleeping bag because I can't find any newspaper to insulate my body heat with, and as a result wake up returned to the earth to sleep. cold and sweaty, glad to see the morning.

The creation story of one group, the Gundungurra, tells that two Dreamtime creatures, one half-fish and the other After IronFest ends, travel back to Sydney is uneventful. half-reptile, fought a long battle in the mountains. Their It’s a Monday, but it seems as if there are no transit offistruggles carved out a giant valley, which is now known cers to evade. I don’t get off the train once. as Jamison Valley. I stared hard out the left windows of the Arriving back at Sydney Central with the crowds, I notice train car, hoping for a glimpse of eucalyptus trees dropa few officers watching the masses pour out in lines to ping away to nothingness where the bodies of Mirigan the streets. I avoid the herds and the small gates through and Garangatch fell. The train continues. Passengers get which they must swipe their cards to leave. Without pauson and off. I look away. ing to bring attention to myself, I walk confidently to the hen in Australia, I think about the indigenous wide handicapped gate and motion to my large travelers laborers; many physically forced or under threat backpack; too wide to fit through the gates. to build these tracks across the bush and through the The bored attendant nods, and unlocks and opens it for mountains. Across their lands I think of the corporation's me. I walk outside, with plans to head back south to financial holdings and wonder in which part of the indusMelbourne. It will take me two days again to hitchhike trial war machine they sit, accumulating interest. It’s not there, but it’s an easy route to travel and I’d rather stand that I’m under the impression that stealing a ride makes patiently on the side of the road then stay up overnight ▶ any difference in the larger scheme of all of this, but I

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“I’m not riding this train because I think that I’m saving the world. There’s just some indescribable pleasure in riding for free.”

Ani riding a freight train on the Great Northern Railway, USA

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on the train watching for transit officers. As it turned out, me that people are pulled off this route more frequently I would unexpectedly be back in Sydney within a week. for riding without a ticket. Nonetheless, I figure it’s worth a try. I arrive on foot to Sydney Central and walk to the A few days pass and I find myself in Sydney again, saying ticket machines, stalling for time while I scan the room goodbye to a friend as she boards a plane to head back around me looking for transit officers. I could just buy to the United States. I ride the ridiculously overpriced a cheap ticket to a metro station one stop away to get CityRail Airport Line back to Sydney Central without through the gates, but I’m stubborn and don’t want to, paying. I feel inconspicuous leaving the airport with my just for the principle of the matter. travelers backpack.

I decide on trying to enter through the handicap gate. I’ve tanding back outside on the city streets that morning, had good luck so far with this technique. Though usually I find a payphone and call a friend of a friend. She staffed, it’s not often that someone asks me for a ticket. says they have room in their squat for me, which turns This time, security did, and I stared blankly at him for a out to be a giant camp under a historic sandstone bridge few seconds. separating two suburbs of Sydney. I have to take buses out this far, but a few times convince the drivers to let me Resolute, I racked my brain for a plan. Without coming ride for free, or tell them that I’m only traveling one zone up with a better idea, I try to get him talking for a moment when I board and pay the cheaper fare. in hopes that he’ll forget to ask me again for my ticket.

I tell him that I’m heading to Newcastle but don’t know A week passes and I leave Sydney, heading north toward where my train is. Success! Distracted by my request for Newcastle. It’s about a two hour trip, and a friend tells directions he confirmed which track I wanted by pointing

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it out to me, telling me that it was about a two hour ride north. I pointed along with him to the other side of the station as he nodded and smiled, popping open the gate.

I thanked him and walked through without a challenge. I smile: one more obstacle behind me. But riding ticketless is still an endless game.

BNSF; one of several Class 1 railroad companies that together use billions of gallons of fuel each year.

No, I’m not riding this train because I think that I’m saving the world. There’s just some indescribable pleasure in riding for free. Some hard-to-pin down feeling of euphoria, of courage, of daring, of adrenaline, and of fear that compels myself and others to hop trains. Some difficultto-articulate passion and anger about how it all went ack home later that summer, I’m crossing over the down – some deep-seated shame for my country and Cascade Mountains on the old Great Northern rail- my people who stand by and blindly consume oil shipped way, now operated by Burlington Northern Santa Fe. I through Burmese pipelines for which entire villages were look at the track bed lying between high rocky crests on enslaved to build. the mountain pass.

In a way, I’m just looking for pathways through which The train passes over a steel bridge arching dozens of to channel my frustrations. I know that refusing to pay feet above a giant river canyon and I think about the doesn’t make much of a dent in any corporation’s bottom hundreds of Chinese and Japanese laborers who met line, so I’m not about to start proselytizing. But until I’ve their end working on railroads in the northwest. Dynamite. found some tangible way to help hold myself and othFrostbite. Fatigue. Death. I’m not riding a passenger train ers accountable for our actions and for our privileges, I’ll this time; I’m on the back of a freight train owned by continue to ride – with one eye on the platform.

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A City Claimed by the Sea The struggle for survival at the epicenter of Japan's worst natural disaster STORY: STEVEN MENDOZA

On March 11, 2011 Japan trembled from the force of a 9.0 magnitude earthquake. Fifty-foot tsunamis rocked the northeastern coasts and demolished everything in their path. Homes and automobiles were thrown about like toys, gas lines ruptured, forests and debris burst into flames, and nuclear power plants were pushed to the brink of meltdown.

What follows is the story of those harrowing days of crisis, told by Steven Mendoza, an English teacher from the United States, who lived through the worst natural disaster in Japan's history, in a city that was claimed by the sea...

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HE BUILDING THAT I WAS IN BEGAN TO SHAKE, it felt like it was in a truck going over a bumpy road, it was strong and violent. Being born and raised in California, I had been through my fair share of earthquakes, but this was different: it didn’t stop.

Almost two or so minutes passed, books came off the shelf, cabinets opened, and nerves were frayed.

The school where I taught was not officially in session on the day of what came to be called the Great East Japan earthquake, so the only students who were there were those participating in club activities — baseball, basketball, etc. This meant that most of the teachers at Shizugawa high school had a light work day. But when the quake hit we were called into action: we evacuated from the school building to the baseball field to join the students who were previously in a practice session. I made my way through the students to see if I could calm some of them down, or joke with them to lighten the situation. Most of the students were in alright moods and joked back. Some students were crying, but most were okay. The ground continued to shake. The aftershocks continued to throttle us, they were strong and constant.

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At around 3:00 or so, the teachers began to spread the word of a tsunami warning. The week prior we had a small tsunami warning, and, being located on the Pacific coast of Japan, we faced several of these warnings regularly throughout the year. But then teachers began to mention the size of the projected tsunami: a six-meter wall of ocean was expected to hit my town. I remember thinking, “no, that can’t be right, it will probably be smaller and cause flooding.” ▶

SHIZUGAWA, Japan March 11, 2011 u approximately 2:45 p.m.

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The First Tsunami Hits (FGf]E4c4 GEF (<FRRN u jvjg X{O{

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HIZUGAWA HIGH SCHOOL IS AN EVACUATION center and is on high ground overlooking the town, and soon cars began arriving, which we made room for them on the baseball field. Around 3:30, the time which the tsunami was predicted to hit, people began running to the cliff overlooking the town. I started to walk over and I heard a horrible rumbling and cracking sound, I realized that something was very wrong. So I began running to get a better view, and took out my small digital video camera and began filming.

I could see huge dust clouds and I noticed that buildings were being pushed and carried by the huge surge of water. It was unreal. I distinctly remember seeing a building that was being carried away that was also on fire, cars and homes were thrown about like they weighed nothing. Most of the townspeople stood on the hill near the high school stunned, while others cried.

I then noticed that there were still people trying to get to where we were at higher ground. Below the school, down a flight of steps was a nursing home which the water began to overtake. We soon realized that we couldn’t reach or help these people because the tsunami was upon us and we, more than likely would have been taken as well. As I filmed, a man whose restaurant I frequented rested on me. I was in a sense holding him up as he saw his town destroyed.

As the water began to recede, more people began arriving at the high school. I remember one in particular, she was one of my former students and was crying and wailing loudly. She was wet and people began taking care of her. The townspeople and school staff sprang into action to rescue the remaining elderly who were unable to make it out of the nursing home.

The baseball coach enlisted the help of his team. When I realized what they were doing, I joined in and helped them carry the surviving elderly from the home up the flight of stairs to the school. To add insult to injury, it ▶

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Photo: Steven Mendoza

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then began to snow — pretty heavily from what I remember. The first person I carried up was covered in mud and was shivering. We were piggybacking people, using blankets, and making stretchers out of found plywood.

We took the injured and elderly to the nurse’s office, and it then began to sink in how bad the situation was. I strongly remember the metallic smell of blood and as we laid the elderly down. I also remember seeing the blood on the floor.

In a cruel show of force, we received notice that a second tsunami was on its way. We watched helplessly as it arrived and once again pummeled the town, like someone continuing to beat a man who is already unconscious. The rescue operation continued after the second tsunami withdrew, and some of the elderly people we were carrying were no longer moving. The aftershocks continued and we received several more tsunami warnings, hampering any rescue efforts.

Shizugawa high school is situated on a hill, on the other side of which were homes — including the homes of some of the teachers — so a party set out over the small but densely wooded hill to see if they could get help from any of the people still there. Luckily, there were houses that were high enough on the hill that they were left untouched by the tsunami. People from this neighborhood soon started coming down to the school with onigiri (rice balls), and blankets for the evacuees.

During the course of getting everyone settled, we were tasked with removing from the nurse’s room some of the bodies of the elderly who had passed away. The experience was too traumatic for their frail bodies. We moved their remains to the AV room on the second floor. As night began to fall, some of the teachers, armed with flashlights and sports bags, set out in the dark to see if they could find any food.

We turned the first floor classrooms into a makeshift emergency room as the injured and elderly were brought The high school staff eventually began to settle in. We began to prepare the school for more for the night in the first floor office and people who may be brought in. The judo the adjacent Principal’s office. We practice gym was where the majority of divided ourselves up between the townspeople were being placed. It had two offices and slept in chairs huddled padded floors which would make it around a space heater. I remember not more comfortable for those who had being able to sleep very well, with the made it to the evacuation center. We constant aftershocks and the chair opened up the gym and began getnot being too comfortable. In the next ting people situated. We tore down room an elderly woman kept yelling the curtains to use as blankets, we late in to the night, that it was too cold gathered heaters and whatever we (Samui!!). The nursing home staff that were there couldn’t really do anything to could think of to try to keep people warm, we took stacks of newspapers from the library help her; we were all in the same situation. so people could use them as blankets — anything I thought about my friends and hoped that they were that could help. Both electricity and cell service were out, okay. so we were on our own.

“I remember the metallic smell of blood and as we laid the elderly down.”

Almost everybody was focused and didn’t panic. They kept it together extremely well, given the circumstances.

We didn’t have time to think about what had happened, we just went into survival mode as we had people to take care of. This, I think, was what helped most of us cope.

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Photo: Air Asia Survey

Day Two

Coping with Disaster

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HE SECOND DAY OF THE CRISIS BEGAN WITH A staff meeting, and we were given assignments. The

vice principal was the main person in charge of giving out directions. He did a fantastic job of organizing and really kept things together. We were given numbered jerseys, the kind the students wear during sports competitions, to identify us as staff members. Mine didn’t fit.

Some of us were put in charge of spelling out SOS with snow on the baseball field and others gathered up bags of snow to place on the deceased in order to somewhat preserve their remains. It was decided that the deceased were to be moved to the archery team clubhouse, as it was far away from the main campus. I was on the team charged with moving the bodies. We said nothing, and when we laid them down in the clubhouse we all said a silent prayer for them.

During the downtime between helicopter landings, I surveyed the damage done to Shizugawa. I went to the bottom of the single driveway that led up to the school and saw that it was completely blocked by debris.

Throughout the day, people set out to find food and supplies, and even a human chain was created over the hill to carry supplies from homes that had survived. I ran into one of my good friends, Yusuke, who came to the school because he is an elderly care worker. He had a big bandage over a swollen eye, but other than that, he was okay. I asked about our common friends and he said that he didn’t know of their current condition.

People were by now coming back to the school with food, which was very difficult because of the complete Rescue helicopters began arriving and we asked them and utter destruction that turned most of the town into to take the severely injured first. We used stretchers to a debris field. Helicopters were now landing at the other carry them to the helicopters and some of the Japanese evacuation areas, which included a hospital, apartment crewmen stayed behind at the school to make room for complex, and the junior high and elementary schools. ▶ the injured. vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Hirokazu Ono I noticed that one of the people who were given a numbered jersey was my former student who made it back to the school — the one who was wailing loudly when she arrived soon after the tsunami. It turns out that her mother had stayed behind to take care of their grandmother in their home. My former student was caught up in the tsunami but managed to pull herself out, but I am afraid her mother and grandmother are gone. She told the staff that she didn’t want to think about it and said that she just wanted to help, so they gave her a jersey and work to do. It was her way of coping.

As it began to get dark on the second night we found some candles and also made others out of oil to use for light. We put them in the hallways and office of the high school. I ventured out to see how the people of the town who sought refuge at the school were doing. They had created fire pits around the baseball diamond and were using them to keep warm as they conversed around these fires. I could see out over a hill or two that a fire raged, illuminating part of the night sky. I once again slept in the Principal’s office, and was able to get a few hours of sleep this night. An elderly man kept calling out for his wife, asking her to come to where he was. He received no response but kept calling out for her anyway.

And just like the night before, constant aftershocks.

Day Three

The Crisis Continues

O

N THE THIRD DAY WE WERE TASKED WITH GETting food to some of the other evacuation areas, such as the hospital and a large apartment complex. We had heard that some of our students were staying at this apartment complex and the teachers were eager to see if they were okay. We were given instructions to listen for an alarm coming from the high school. We were told that the vice principal would let us know via megaphone if there was another tsunami warning. One short beep for small tsunami, and a long one for a large tsunami. We could only hope that we would be able to hear these alarms and get to high ground in time.

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The P.E. Coach gave me a pair of his sneakers, because he was the only other person who had the same shoe size. I was on the team that was going to the apartments, and I loaded my bag with food and we set out.

There was about seven of us, all teachers at the school.

We walked down the stairs towards the nursing home, the driveway was completely blocked and proved to be more than difficult to navigate through.

This was my first on the ground look at the damage.

Complete destruction. Piles of timber where houses used to stand, cars strewn about. Mud everywhere. We made our way down a makeshift path that people had been using to find supplies. It looked as though the town had turned into a garbage dump, with mountains of debris.

Navigating through the town was difficult but we made it to a bridge that used to go over the train tracks. The bridge was still intact, but you could see where the water had reached. The tsunami had to have been at least 30 feet high. This route was the quickest way to the apartments. It was here that I ran in to the first news reporters, they were from Al Jezeera. My teachers motioned for me to talk to them. They asked me where we were headed and what I knew of what was going on. They asked me for an interview later, and I said that I would probably be back at the school.

We then continued on our way through the mud covered town. I recognized the places where buildings I knew used to stand and I tried to imagine what the town used to look like before the disaster. The apartment complex was a few blocks passed the hospital, and as we approached the we heard the megaphone alarm from the high school go off. A long beep.

We decided to take refuge in the hospital because it was closer than the school. We found an entrance through the back that looked like it had been cleared safe for use.

We started to make our way up the stairs. It was then that I smelled that familiar metallic smell, the smell of blood. The hospital wasn’t able to completely evacuate the lower floors of before the tsunami hit, and there were bodies of unfortunate people still strewn about. ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

Photo: Christopher Johnson

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AP Photo/Yomiuri Shimbun, Tsuyoshi Matsumoto

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Photo: Reuters/Kyodo We made it up to the top floor of the hospital and took a break. The building was mostly empty, and the remaining medical staff told us that the remaining patients had just been airlifted to safety. They also informed us that the apartment complex, which was our original destination, had also been evacuated. We waited for a bit and no tsunami came. We decided that it was safe and began heading back to the school.

On our retreat to the school the megaphone alarm sounded once again, this time a long beep, longer than the last one. We had not even made it back as far as the bridge, so we double timed it — which wasn’t easy with a bag of food and mud covered ground. We made it to the bridge and from there determined that it seemed safe to continue on back to the school.

Supplies began to come in via military helicopter and I began helping unload them. Blankets, food, and water mostly. I ran into a good friend of mine, who was also a news reporter for the local newspaper. He isn’t a very expressive guy, but when we saw each other he gave out a surprised yell, and we hugged. It was great to see another friend. We began breaking down the wooden stools and chairs that we weren’t using for firewood and the baseball boys and I had a good laugh as they watched me crush the timber with my weight, as I jumped on the boards to break them. Teachers were also dispatched to the other evacuation centers to see if they could find our missing students.

As I took a breather I saw a very familiar face, Canon Purdy, an American teacher who once taught at the junior high school in Shizugawa. She had been staying at my apartment and actually arrived in Shizugawa on the day of the tsunami to attend her former student’s graduation. She dropped her stuff off at my apartment and we split up as she quickly went to the junior high.

When I saw here standing at the top of stairs I let out a big sigh of relief, I was so glad that she was okay. She brought news of our good friends who had been staying at the junior high with her. We exchanged stories and news and talked of missing friends. But the other ▶

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AP Photo/The Yomiuri Shimbun, Tsuyoshi Matsumoto American English teacher in town, Caitlin Churchill, was still unaccounted for.

The Al Jezeera guys then arrived and they interviewed one of my Japanese English teachers and myself. More supplies and food began arriving, some by foot and some by helicopter.

That night I slept a bit better, mainly due to exhaustion.

Day Four

US Military MIA, NBC Arrives

O

N THE FOURTH DAY OF THE CRISIS OUR MAIN job was to continue unloading the relief supplies that continued coming in. The roads were clearing up and trucks began getting through. The first couple of days after the earthquake and tsunamis the food supplies were scarily thin, but now there was a constant stream of supplies coming in.

People were coming and going, and one small group of people included miss Caitlin Churchill — she had been staying at a junior high school in the nearby town of Togura and had to walk and hitchhike to get back to Shizugawa high school. She brought news from Togura and also mentioned that the US military may be helping out in the area and she wanted to see if she could get a ride with them back to somewhere with electricity.

She was on her way to the junior high in Shizugawa so I joined her. I wanted to see my friends and perhaps offer my services to the US military as a translator. Now that the roads were clearer than the previous days, the trip around town was a bit easier.

At the Junior high I met more friends who had made it through the disaster. Actually, these were more than friends, they were my Japanese family.These good friends include a husband and wife who used to own a cafe/bar that I frequented. The shop was comfy and the coolest and friendliest people congregated there.The husband and wife liked to be called by their nicknames — “Mama and Papa” — which were appropriate due to their caring and parental natures. ▶

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where she was. Mama and Papa, my Japanese was going on. Teachers were meeting up in Sendai, the family, knew, and they escorted the news crew to biggest city in Miyagi, the prefecture where we lived. the Bayside arena where we had trekked earlier Canon then called the US embassy in hopes that they in the day. may be of assistance. They weren’t. We asked about Anne Curry and the NBC news crew gave us a ride getting new passports, as ours were lost in the wreckback to the junior high in their truck and provided age, and they told us that we “had to come during us with whatever snack food they had. Getting regular business hours, Monday through Friday” to apply. back to the junior high proved to be difficult, as Well, the embassy was in Tokyo, far from where we were. the road back was closed due to flaming debris. Thanks US embassy, for nothing.

So we had to take a more difficult road over the hills. It was surreal. The whole situation was surreal but this ride through the hills overlooking the ANON AND CAITLIN GOT A RIDE OUT OF TOWN ruined city just upped the level of strangeness. with the news crew a day or so later and the high As we rode back to the junior high, Anne filled us school staff began to dwindle. I knew it was now okay for in on what had been happening on the outside. I me to leave as well. One of my last days in Shizugawa, handed a video that I took of the tsunami to Anne amongst other things, I spent time translating into and her NBC crew as well as to NHK. I knew Japanese the English language cooking instructions people needed to see what had happened here. from the foodstuffs that were brought in on the relief Anne wanted to do an interview with Canon to trucks, and I even made a conversion chart for cookcompliment a piece that NBC did with her family ing terms and measurements. “What’s a gallon?” I had in California, and she also allowed us to use their to explain. I also had to explain what beets were, but I satellite phone to call our relatives and let them really couldn’t think of any dishes that use them. I also know we were okay. I knew that I wanted to stay visited my former apartment, there was nothing left, I as long as I could in Shizugawa to help out, these could barely make out the floor frame, everything was are people that I love, good people, my friends gone. As I walked back to the high school I stopped to and family. I told this to my uncle over the phone inspect the damage along the way, and, in a few places, I could smell the familiar metallic smell that I had come and he understood. to know so well.

Leaving Shizugawa

C

Photo: U.S. Navy We met up with Canon and decided to go to another evacuation center to see if the US military was there. We hiked over the hills behind the junior high and elementary.

We ran in to townspeople we knew, it was great seeing their faces. When we came out of the wooded trail on the other side of the hill, we saw how much more destruction the tsunami had caused to the rest of Shizugawa.

There was really nothing left of the town. It was a pile of debris. We walked through the wreckage towards the Bayside arena, another makeshift shelter. We continued to meet people we knew and a good friend of ours who lived near the arena gave us a lift the rest of the way. We looked around for people we knew and also asked if the US military was near. They weren’t.

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As I rested outside we decided that we should go probably go back to the junior high, but as we began to leave, I noticed a woman with a camera crew run up to Canon US Embassy No Help at All and ask if she was Canon Purdy and said that her sister STAYED AT THE JUNIOR HIGH THAT NIGHT AND had been trying to get a hold of her from the USA. I stood then went back to the high school the next day. More there as Anne Curry quickly interviewed Canon and then the cameras turned to Caitlin and I so we could get mes- supplies, more trucks, more news reporters. Over the sages out via the NBC Today Show to our families to let next few days, the school ceased being a school, and became a full time shelter. The staff, having less and them know that we were alive. less to do, began to go home or to relatives’ houses to Evidently, there had been a search effort by our families see if they were okay. I started staying at the junior high to find us, and Canon’s sister had used Twitter to ask at night, I wanted to stay with my Japanese family, my Anne if she could help. Anne found her way to Shizugawa only family close enough to be with. Phone service had Junior high where she showed people a picture of Canon been partially restored by this time, and we were able to and asked if anybody knew who she was and, if so, contact other teachers and get information about what

Day 5

I

I told the principal that I needed a ride to Sendai. He talked with an Asahi news crew who were filming in the area to see if I could get a ride with them. Luckily, they were headed to Sendai that night. It took about 3 hours to get from Shizugawa to Sendai in the news van. The crew was friendly and cheered me up a bit. The roads were a bit bumpy and construction crews were out in force to fix them. I noticed on this ride that my emotions were beginning to become hard to contain. There were a few times that I became emotional in the prior week — when I found out that friends were safe, when I walked through the destroyed town alone — but I was able to keep it together. The whole situation was unreal. ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

AP Photo/Kyodo News

Returning Home

O

N THE DAY OF MY FLIGHT BACK TO THE USA, IT STARTED TO SINK IN THAT I WOULD BE LEAVING JAPAN, a place that I had called home for three years straight. I had no ill will towards my second home; in fact, I wanted to return as soon as I could to help or comfort those that lost so much, those people who I call friends and family.

Landing at LAX and getting off the plane I was surrounded by commuters who had no idea what I had just gone through, people going about their lives. It was, once again, surreal. I got to the escalator that took me down to baggage claim where people could meet loved ones. My loved ones were at the bottom waiting for me. Their smiling faces were a welcome contrast to the previous weeks. It was great to be in their arms again.

Minamisanriku, or Shizugawa, as locals still continue to call it, was literally claimed by the sea during what has come to be known as the Great East Japan Earthquake. Over half of the city’s population — roughly 9,500 people — did not survive the earthquakes and subsequent tsunamis.

Minamisanriku’s staggering death toll comprised a significant portion of the disaster’s total casualties. In the aftermath of the destruction it became apparent that 95% of Minamisanriku was completely destroyed, only the largest buildings — the hospital, the nursing home, a couple apartment complexes — were still standing.

of the crisis, and by day five many people who had another place to go were able to be evacuated.

If we consult the ‘rule of tens’ disaster recovery timeline that was devised by the great geographer, Robert Kates, we can calculate that if the time that Minamisakriku was in the crisis was four days, and the time that the city was uninhabitable was roughly 40 days, then it will take 400 days from the time the earthquake hit for the city to function in any capacity once again. While the time that it is predicted to take Minamisanriku to completely rebuild again is another factor of ten on top of this, or nearly 11 years.

When the tsunamis hit, the valleys that surround the city acted as a large funnel which allowed the water to rise to heights exceeding 50 feet. Almost everything was completely destroyed, and the aerial photos of the aftereffects look like something out of a post-apocalyptic nightmare. As Steve wrote, “There was really nothing left of the town. It was a pile of debris.”

The ‘rule of tens’ timeline is founded on the fact that societies tend to rebuild their cities after a disaster at a pace which is proportional to how quickly they can subdue the crisis period. Japanese society proved to be very resilient, very well organized, and extremely efficient as it mobilized to face the largest natural disaster in its recorded history.

Given this, there is hope for the northeastern coast of Japan, and expect to see Minamisanriku rebuilt As we saw from Steve’s narrative, rescue and and put back on the map in due time. clean up crews were on location within one day

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Tips

for starting an

N

Independent Travel Business STORY & PHOTOS: WADE SHEPARD

TRAVEL AND MONEY GO HAND IN HAND. UNLESS YOU’RE INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY, have an incredible amount of savings, or have some sort of trust fund, you’re eventually going to need a way to make money on the road if your desire is to travel perpetually. One way to do this is to get a job. There are many options for formal employment for the traveler — whether it be teaching English, working in cafes, doing dishes, waiting tables, tending bar, running tours, working in hotels and hostels, or doing a professional job for which you have been specifically trained, like archaeology or tech work. But some travelers don’t want to live on someone else’s schedule, some want to be their own boss, some want to be able to work wherever and whenever they please, while others want all of the above. For these travelers, there is another way to make money: the independent travel business.

U Traveling Musicians &

happens to be in. Igor does not play with a band, does not record his tunes, nor is he trying to become any sort of celebrity — rather, he uses music as a method to serTraveling around the world playing music is a dream for enade food into his mouth and money into his pockets. many, but it is a stark and simple reality for some. Right Igor is a traveler, and playing the guitar in the streets is now, there are thousands of street buskers roaming from his means to these ends. place to place strumming guitars, playing harmonicas, Igor is now married to a Spanish girl that he met in route, juggling, fire dancing and blowing trumpets in restaurant and just had a daughter. He is now playing music to supdoorways, in bars, and in the streets all over the world. port a family on the road, and neither parent seems very Generally, they make only enough money to keep playing worried about their prospects. music for yet another day, but they always seem to have enough cash to get from place to place around the world. “Today, I made 120 pesos from playing at only one resI met a busking banjo player in Mongolia some years taurant,” Igor told me. ago who has been traveling on that gig for 22 years. He Nearly $10 from less than ten minutes of work. would go out for an hour each day and play in the streets, returning with enough cash to pay his night’s lodging, “I make around 600 pesos a week,” he continued, and for food, beer, and, when ready, an onward bus or train then added that he generally goes out to work for only ticket. In Mexico, I interviewed two traveling musicians, three of these days. “But,” Igor continued, “if I work two one a guitar player and the other a bamboo saxophonist, days and make 400 pesos, that is sometimes enough.” and the simplicity of their profession, their enjoyment of Typically, Igor uses a similar method as Malcom, and he it, as well as their profit margin left me very impressed. goes around town strumming and singing in the doorThe Itinerant Saxophonist ways of restaurants. The more people that are in the The first musician that I interviewed was named Malcom, restaurant, the more money Igor stands to make. From and he would fabricate and play bamboo saxophones all appearances, he only works when the earnings look in the streets of San Cristobal de las Casas. Besides the good. custom orders that he would take from tourists to build Igor also plays music for food as well, and often returns them their own bamboo saxophone for $60, he would home with boxes of vegetables from performing in the make all of his cash going from shop to shop, restaurant local market. Impressed, perhaps, with his Chilean folk to restaurant, bar to bar blasting a small selection of songs, the local people toss him their excess produce. tunes through his booming instrument. After a minute or two, he would finish playing and make a round through “He often fills up these shelves, “one of his roommates the establishment to collect pocket change from the spoke proudly as he pointed to the assemblage of crates listeners. He would go on like this throughout the day, that rose up from behind him. “Just the other day he making enough money to live and travel off of. filled them with ayote.”

Buskers

Independent travel businesses are just that: small micro-businesses that can be done in the context of regularly moving around the world. These self-generated occupations can be anything from juggling in the streets to doing private web consulting, from freelance writing to making and selling jewelry, from importing and exporting precious gems to baking cookies, and the wages a traveler stands to make The Guitar Player Unlike Malcom, Igor sometimes takes formal gigs in bars from these businesses are just as wide as the range of occupations themselves.

Igor left his paternal home in Chile many years ago. at night — playing to a crowd both for their spare change For six months I traveled around Mexico, interviewing people who funded their travels from independent micro-businesses. What following is a summary of what these various businesses consisted of, how they were implemented, notes on their degree of success, as well as some tips on how another aspiring vagabond could take to the road with a similar gig.

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Carrying just a bag of old clothes and a guitar, he made his way all through South and Central America to Mexico.

He makes a living from his music, which he plays in a very defacto manner in the streets of whatever city he

as well as a decent chit from the bar. In all, he seems to have made a decent living as he traveled from the southern fringes of South America to that of North America.

He is still going, strumming and singing into the future. ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

The Fire Dancers Beyond the musicians, I had the opportunity to interview other types of buskers in Mexico, the most notable being a troupe of wandering fire dancers. This group, which was made up of members from Argentina and France would spin hoops of fire, twirl flaming poi, and dance to the accompaniment of klezmer music in the streets.

Generally, these travelers would work as artisans, making and selling jewelry in the streets during the day, and then turn into showmen upon nightfall. They would do a performance in the restaurant/ tourist district of a city and then go around passing the hat for spare change from the audience. Due to the visual and auditory stimulation of their performances — music combined with dancing and live flames — they generally didn’t need to work too hard to get a crowd. The only problem is that these performers tend to all gather in the exact same places in the world, and, to be honest, there are only so many fire dancing shows that any single spectator is going to want to observe before they just become a passing annoyance. But, repetition of the act aside, busking acts like fire dancing, juggling, acting, and gymnastics often appear to bring in enough money per performance to warrant the endeavor.

To be stark honest, these traveling musicians and buskers tend to bank more money per hour of work than the average laborer in Mexico (and the rest of the world for that matter), and they do so plying a trade that they seem to approach almost recreationally. Most of the traveling buskers that I’ve met and interviewed would only work for two to three hours per day — if that — and I have never met one who seemed impatient, rushed, or stressed in the least, as they are doing something that they enjoy while living a life of travel. It is almost too perfect of an arrangement.

The traveling musician and busker sect of vagabond seems to find a precious balance between hours worked, the enjoyment of this work, and income. If you think that you can’t just head to Latin America and make a living with nothing but a guitar, an act, and some guts, I challenge you to try it — you may be surprised.

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Tips for Being a Traveling Musician or Busker 1. The better you can play your instrument, the more you can amaze the crowd with your antics, the more appropriate your act is to the cultural setting, the more money you will make.

2. There are no set incomes here, so what you make depends fully on you and your surroundings. Take time and effort to cultivate a good street presence, a great show, and make people want to give you money. If the crowd enjoys you, you will find your pockets lined with enough cash to travel throughout the world.

3. Know your abilities, know the culture you are performing in, and try to match the two. Not every place in the world is going to be open to filling the hat of a traveling minstrel, so research your route ahead of time and focus on cities that are known for being kind to buskers. Typically, these places are those that are set up for tourism and have a lot of people recreationally spending money. Though be aware that this is a profession that can quickly become over-saturated: jugglers at EVERY stop light in a city or fire dancers blocking the streets every five minutes can quickly become more annoyance than entertainment.

4. Play for food and accommodation rather than just money. Some people only have hospitality to offer, be open to receiving it.

5. Try to set up deals with bars and restaurants to play for tips rather than always just invading at the door. If your music is pleasant and you can play a few local tunes, you should not any difficulty arranging such deals.

U The Traveling InternetBased Business

If you are a professional in the IT, website design, webmastering, marketing, computer technology, or similar ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

industry then packing up and hitting the road with your own little internet based business is often not a farfetched option. In point, with a little effort you can tackle an internet based job from Africa, Asia, Central America, or Europe just as you can from your own home or office.

In point, it is no longer difficult in this world to stay within the bounds of the internet, and, besides this, a laptop computer and personal skills and knowledge is pretty much all you need for this work.

All through the world such professionals are exchanging the office cubicle for the mobile office, making themselves their own boss, traveling the world, and making a decent living all the while. For some professions, being tied down to an exact set of coordinates on the globe is a thing of the past â&#x20AC;&#x201D; global technologies have ushered in the age of a new class of traveler: the professional hobo. .

There is a little trick that gives independent internet businesses an advantage over their more sedentary competition: it is often vastly cheaper to live in the tropics than it is in a country like the USA or continent like Europe. It is more than possible to live like a virtual king in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Southeast Asia, Central America etc ...on $500 per month. Now you do the math here: if you only need $500 per month to live well, how much less are you going to be able to charge for your consultation/ freelance work than your competition living in expensive countries? How much lower of an income threshold can you withstand while trying to make a living off of a website if you are paying a mere $200 per month for accommodation?

Now, because of this drastically lowered cost of living, image how much less time you are going to need to work each week to sustain yourself. In this sense, a real life of paradise is not too far off for the skilled tech worker who leaves their co-workers in their cubicles and sets off to enjoy traveling the world while working less.

The SEO Consultant Mandy started working her way up the ladder from the bottom rung of a Fortune 500 company, and after a â&#x2013;ś

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few years of treading water decided that it was enough of that for her.

more possible as the global communications infrastructure continues to improve.

“If I kept doing that I would have found myself in a bath- Tips for Running an Internet-Based room slitting my wrist with a paper cutter,” she spoke Business proudly as we chatted over drinks in a little cafe on a 1. Live and travel in tropical countries that you enjoy sunny day in the south of Mexico. where your living expenses don’t top $500 per month.

She then explained how she started up her own search 2. Try to attract clients from countries that are use to engine optimization consulting firm to give herself an paying relatively high wages for your services. occupation that she could employ from abroad as she travels. She did some research, played around with 3. As you can live for less, underbid and out compete your competition but don’t overdo it, as you should some programs, and eventually cultivated enough skills still take what you are worth. and knowledge to hire herself out to clients professionally. Before long she found herself with a body of clientele 4. As you can now live well on relatively little money try who were happily paying out $500 per month for her to enjoy life more by working less. Cut your billable services. hours down until you reach a nice balance between work and play — with the balance always tilted As with many travelers who run independent micro busitowards the latter. nesses, Mandy’s work hours fluctuate rapidly: she admits that her time at the grindstone fluctuates from zero to 14 hours a day, depending on what project she is working on. She tends to take life slow and rents out apartments or rooms long term in hotels and hostels as she moves from place to place in few month stints.

Mandy admits that she makes at least $15,000 a year from her own websites and private consulting business, but as I ran her numbers I have the strong suspicion that she may have been being modest. She also told me that she keeps her costs of living low by trading hotels and hostels her SEO services for free accommodation. She claimed to be paying just $5 per night for a private room in a hostel in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, and it soon became apparent that I was interviewing a traveler who lives well on under $500 a month — all while raking in the consultation fees paid by predominately US companies.

5. Remember that even though you are living abroad and have more free time, you are still running a business — be professional, offer good service, and give yourself a good reputation.

6. Clients come and go, no independent travel business gig should be thought of as being forever, as you work remotely give yourself a few backup plans and run multiple projects concurrently.

7. Use systems like Elance.com to find jobs.

U Freelance Writing to Fund Travels

The Ghost Writer

Paying $95 per month for a comfortable apartment equipped with high speed internet, she keeps her expense low and profit margin high in Mexico. Working remotely from a cheaper country than most of her competition gives her an economic edge when bidding for jobs, as she is able to do more for publishers for vastly less money. But she does not live like a pauper — rather, her clever living strategy has enabled her to come out financially ahead each month while doing work she truly enjoys.

“I will probably write two books and fifty articles this month,” Rachael spoke matter-of-factly while sipping a Like running an internet based tech business, freelance beer. writing is another way to make a living traveling. Though the work hours tend to be longer than many other inde- Rachael is a traveling freelance/ ghost writer who has pendent travel businesses, the freelance or ghost writer built up a steady clientele of publishers while traveling In this way, Mandy jumped the global economic divide can etch out a pretty decent living abroad. With the “con- through Central America and Mexico. She generally magnificently: she lives on a Mexican budget but gets tent is king” internet movement, freelance writing has takes jobs as they are offered, researches the topic, and paid a US wage. Standing on both sides of these eco- been raised from the dead. Typically, the employers for then kicks out blog posts, articles, or books depending nomic paradigms are one of the key advantages to these jobs do not want to pay much money at all, so on what is requested. She seems to make a sport out running an independent internet based consulting busi- this makes them perfect for a writer who is traveling in of the profession, and takes a heavy writing load as a “It’s crazy doing what we do,” Rachael stated during our interview, “five years ago we couldn’t do it here.” ▶ ness, and living at such apexes is becoming more and Central America on $15 per day. challenge.

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She was correct, the technological capabilities of much of the planet has now enabled travelers to successfully work remotely around the world, taking their independent business with them from one continent to another without an interruption in output. These are truly exciting times for the digital nomad, and these internet based micro-businesses are allowing people to live the traveler’s daydream while furthering their lives in the professional capacity. No longer is working in the professional world, running your own business, and having a career mutually exclusive from traveling the world. The modern traveler can have it all; they just have to take it.

Tips for Starting a Freelance Writing Business While Traveling 1. Create a profile on websites like Elance.com, post your resume, publication record, and then start browsing through the job listings. Do the same at the job boards of various freelance writing/ blogging websites like jobs.problogger.net and apply for the jobs that you want as they are posted.

2. Put together a concise portfolio of your work and publications that show prospective employers exactly what you have done.

roll into a town, set up shop (sometimes from a hotel room), and go into business. I have never observed any of these traveling instructors rolling in the dough, but they do seem to get by through teaching something they have a passion for.

So if you are an instructor of some art or practice that is popular, then you are already half way to an independent travel business. Perfect your practice and then teach it to others to live abroad fully engaged in work that you enjoy.

Tips for Making Money Instructing 1. Actually be a master of your practice. There are far too many instructors out there trying to make a living as a teacher when they should be a student. If you are not a true master, then take on another independent travel business or a job while you cultivate your skill. If you couldn’t make it as an instructor in your home country then you have no business deceiving people abroad.

2. Is your practice something that people want to learn in the travel setting? Yoga, reiki, qigong, herbalism, ethnic baking and cooking, dance, martial arts etc . . . are practices which travelers/ expats/ adventurous locals often want to learn.

3. After you successfully complete a few freelance jobs, 3. Price according to the local economy. Charging USA try to build up a regular clientele of publishers. prices for your instruction means being unemployed.

Swallow your pride and charge no more than the 4. Balance out the work and play ratio. It is pointless to price of a meal in a cheap local restaurant per lesson. be traveling abroad if you are just sitting in front of a computer all the time.

4. Offer free lessons.

5. Keep expense low and work output high by staying in 5. Offer short as well as long term courses. Often, travlocations for one to three months at a time. Renting elers only have a few days in town, offer a course to apartments is often cheaper than hotel rooms. accommodate this fact along with your longer duration classes.

U Skilled Instructors

If you are the possessor of skills and talents that other travelers may covet then you are good to go for making a living on the open road. Having knowledge and skills that other people want is a valuable asset in and of itself, and I have come across many martial arts instructors, dance teachers, reiki practitioners, yoga gurus, etc. who

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6. Advertise and flier adequately, but don’t going overboard. Taking out ad space in the local expat magazine is a good move, and so is putting up fliers in the backpacker hangouts, but wheat pasting your placard to every light post and empty wall space in town is just going to annoy everyone. ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

U Traveling Artisans

and found an array of shop-quality silver work being made and sold by a traveler for a mere portion of its actual worth. The goal, apparently, was to make enough Jewelry makers, artists, trinket assemblers, coconut money to keep traveling, striving for more than this could carvers, sandal constructors, silversmiths, clothing makcomplicate the lifestyle. ers, soap makers, and even tattooists line the streets of select cities of the world selling their wares and ply- “Do you make a good living?” I asked Dan. ing their trades. Many are travelers, working the global “I wouldn’t say that,” he replied with a laugh, and then artisan circuits making a living off their art, skill, and told me that he sometimes brings in $5 a night, somesalesmanship. As I traveled through Central America times $150. and Mexico looking for travelers with independent businesses, I was more than swarmed with potential The traveling artisans in Latin America seem more bent interview subjects when it came to the artisans — they on enjoying their travels than making money. Many seem are all over the streets, most selling macramé jewelry off to make their wares as a hobby that they can somehow of small blankets laid all over the sidewalks. spin just enough to make a living off of. But there was

The Sandals Maker “I use whatever materials I can find,” an Argentine artisan and musician named Verdu explained, “When you are traveling you can’t carry a lot of things, so I use all local materials.”

He was selling clothe and twine sandals when I met up with him.

“Some days I sell ten or twenty pairs, other days I sell nothing,” he admitted.

At 100 pesos a pair, eight USD, selling ten or twenty in a day would take care of more than month’s rent in the south of Mexico. Verdu went on to tell me how he wandered up from Argentina selling sandals made of various local materials — from yarn to rubber from old car tires — in the streets. Peddling these handmade wares were enough to move him over continents.

The Traveling Silversmith Apart from Verdu the sandals maker, I also interviewed a host of other traveling artisans during the course of this project. I was most impressed with an English traveler named Dan who learned to silversmith in Mexico and then started up a little business called Nomad Fusion.

The jewelry that he made was of top notch quality, and was highly unique. I looked over his table which he had set up on the main drag of a beach town called Zipolite,

24 VAGABOND EXPLORER

one traveling artisan that I interviewed who did make some pretty good money selling in the streets. He did not sell jewelry, he did not sell clothing — no, he sold soap.

The Soap Making Sailor After building a surprisingly lucrative business off of selling his hand made soap at festivals, fairs, and markets in the USA, Jim bought a 35’ wooden sailboat and headed south. With a ship full of soap he would lug his wares up

on shore when in port to sell in the streets. Beyond soap, Captain Jim also made and sold massage oils, perfumes, and an array of other curiosities that he picked from various places along the course of his travels. Jim tried not to boast when he told me that he often brings in $50 to $75 per night — an amount that is probably not less than the earnings of half a dozen of his street vending brethren combined.

him. “I’m fully trained. If you think I’m shite you own me nothing, but if you like it, then you pay what you think is fair.”

Paulo set off on his Central American travels without planning on using his massage skills to his economic advantage. Rather, he sought out other forms of employment, working in hotels and participating in other ventures. But one day while working at the Finca Tatin in the jungles of Guatemala, a client returned sore from a day of hiking and pined for a massage.

“I don’t choose my travels, my travels choose me,” he continued as he explained how he has regularly been driven out of towns by street toughs in Central America and Mexico because they think he is a Salvadoran gang member. The tattooing on his face and his profession don’t provide much cover to hide behind. But though Nao definitely tattoos gangsters in both of his homelands it was clear that he was not one himself. ▶

An hour later Paulo had 200 Quetzals (25 dollars) in his pocket and a new strategy for coming up with his travel funds: he would do massage independently on the road.

He now charges $20-$30 per massage, doing around four per week, and bringing in roughly $320 a month But Jim had a different selling strategy than the younger plus tips. A more than decent supplemental income for traveling hippies: he was incredibly sociable. He was not sure. verbally threatening, just overtly friendly. He would talk The Itinerant Tattoo Artist and chat and, at some point in the process, show you all of the oddities he was selling. He would tell people The buzzing of a tattoo machine can be heard in the all about his merchandise, how it was special, how he streets outside of the Brisa Marina hotel in Zipolite, made it, and he seemed to do so for the basic joy of Mexico. The man wielding the needles is named Nao — conversation. Customers ate this up, and would often a half Japanese, half Salvadorian traveler. I met Nao on the beach and immediately began reading the tattoos leave portions of their behind with the sailor. which covered his neck, chest, stomach, arms, legs, and Jim then mentioned to me that he was thinking about a little on his face. Nao makes his living as a tattoo artist anchoring his sailboat off the coast of Costa Rica to as he travels back and forth between Japan and Latin take one of those “on the beach” massage certification America. Transforming hotel rooms into impromptu tatcourses. I though this idea was excellent, and told him tooing “studios,” he sets up in various beach towns or about another traveler that I interviewed in Guatemala backpacker hot spots, tattooing anyone with an inkling who is a traveling massage therapist. to bring home a more permanent memento from their trip. As his overhead is vastly lower than the tattoo artists The Traveling Massage Therapist which done professional studios he is able to undercut His name is Paulo, and he travels the world working in the competition, and his clients tend to be foreign and various professions while doing massage independently domestic tourists alike. on the side. Trained in massaging technique in both the traditional fashion as well as from certification courses, “Lots of people come here and look around and are Paulo is currently a master of six types of body work, but scared away,” Nao admitted a sense of reticence in his is only offering Swedish, Deep Tissue, and Indian Head studio’s apparent lack of professional standards, but he was quick to change the subject. massage professionally.

“Dude, if you want I can give you a back rub,” Paulo told

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I suggested to Nao that he should make use of his Japanese passport and go to Canada or Europe for work.

“No money!” he roared.

ten hippies trying to sell it. It struck me as odd that so many travelers are moving around Latin America selling merchandise that they don’t even wear themselves, so make sure that what you are making is something that potential customers — including yourself — want to buy.

While Nao was living in a hotel room that seconded as his working studio for only $200 per month and probably did not even come close to spending this amount on 3. Diversify what you make and sell, and be creative. food, he still was not pulling in a very high profit margin.

Selling what all the other travelers are selling is a He certainly made enough money to continue traveling good way to not make much money. Try something around Latin America, tattooing out of hotel rooms, and new, break into new artisan territory. Captain Jim was living days of leisure mixed with stints of work that he more successful than most other traveling artisans in truly enjoyed, but he did not make enough earnings to part because he makes and sells merchandise that seek new horizons, so to speak. few other people in these settings are selling.

One major deficiency which I’ve observed in many of 4. Know where to go to make good earnings, follow the traveling artisan’s business models is that that many, festivals, seasons, and crowds. In point, you need although very skilled artists and craftsmen, are living as people to buy your product, and the more people borderline paupers in Central America and Mexico. This around the better your odds of landing sales. is perhaps because they are trying to sell their wares and offer their services in low wage/ low cost countries. If 5. Keep expenses cheap, live with other artisans. The Dan the silversmith collected his materials in Mexico and traveling artisans of Latin America have formed a little then sold his jewelry to rich wannabe hippies in California sub-culture, and they often follow the same circuits he would probably up his profit margin tenfold. The same and know where to find the cheapest accommodagoes for Paulo the traveling masseuse, and Captain Jim tion and food. says that his soap fetches twice as much money in the USA. But this is one of the tradeoffs to running an independent travel business: financial security and profit is often exchanged for the right to live and work full time in Dream big, live bigger, it is possible. This is the final point paradise. Rather than toiling 50 weeks a year raking in of advice that I can share after interviewing dozens of the cash just to take a short vacation, these travelers live travelers during the course of this independent travel in vacation destinations full time, working a few hours a business project. The examples in this article show that with a little creativity, some wit, a large dose of deterday doing work they enjoy. mination, and the drive to see an endeavor through to Traveling Artisan & Street Vendor Tips success, it is more than possible to start an indepen1. Sociability is certainly a benefit when selling artisan dent travel business that can fund a perpetual journey goods in the street. Talk with people, make friends, around the world. If you think that you don’t have the teach about what you make and how you do it, and money to travel, or want to just keep traveling and not make your customers want to give you money. go home, there are options: you can get a job abroad, or 2. Make artisan goods that people want to buy. It is you can look within yourself to find some skill, talent, or very hip in Central America and Mexico to sell mac- art that can be cultivated into a marketable independent ramé jewelry in the street. The problem is that for business.

U Conclusion

each person buying a piece of this jewelry there are

25 VAGABOND EXPLORER

Nearly all of the travelers interviewed for this series

are for recreation — so recreate — but a lifestyle needs resource acquisition strategies thrown in. A traveler needs the same resources (money) as anyone else on the planet; the only difference is that they need to come up with ways to obtain what they need while moving from place to place around the world. The perpetual traveler, at some point, will need to work. The examples “The biggest problem is people don’t understand that I’m shown in this article are of people who live the double not on vacation,” Mandy the SEO consultation explained, dream: they travel the world and work for themselves “They come up to me in the hostel and say, ‘You’ve been doing what they enjoy. The strategies of these travelers inside all day, why aren’t you out sightseeing?’ ...They can be taken as beacons through the dark for other travthink I’m a sloth.” elers who wish to make a life on the open road. are not on vacation, their travels are not all tours and drunken escapades — they are traveling slowly on long journeys without end date. Because of this, they need ways to make money in order continue their nomadic lifestyle. But this also means that they are living a somewhat stable, dare I say, regular life within the travel context.

Like Mandy pointed out, there is a large divide between being on vacation and traveling as a lifestyle. Vacations

For more on independent travel businesses, visit vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/series/independent-travel-work/

vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

Göbekli Tepe

Exploring the Rise of the Farmer, the Fall of the Nomad STORY & PHOTOS: WADE SHEPARD

T

HE HUMAN was born a traveling animal. For over 100,000 years we walked across the great Savannas, made way through the jungles, camped in Arctic tundra, and hunted and foraged in the forests of this planet. Then, a little over 10,000 years ago — a blip in our species’ timeline — we started laying down our satchels, building our shelters with a sense of permanence, and began cultivating the grains and animals in our surroundings.

This great event, perhaps the largest shift in human cultural evolution, happened around a great temple now called Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey.

In Search of Humanity’s Lost Nomadic Past IT MAY SEEM IRONIC FOR A TRAVELER TO BE drawn to the site of humanity’s first incidences of sedentarization, but I saw in this story something leading to the roots of my own restlessness, my own undeniable wanderlust.

I have been interested in the deeply ingrained nomadic urges that still seem to lay dormant inside the building blocks of the human genome since my early days of travel. What made me want to travel?

What was this urge that made me grow restless in a place after a couple of months? Why did I want to follow the geese and run with the seasons? What was the anatomy of this incessant drive to migrate over the earth? After nearly twelve years of traveling I am still not any closer to answering these questions, but I feel that the transitioning point from when humans were primarily migratory hunter-gatherers to when they became sedentary farmers is a big lead towards unraveling this riddle of the ages.

laid to rest: the Fertile Crescent. There was an intermediary span of geography that stretched from the Mediterranean Sea almost all the way to the Persian Gulf, from the highlands of Anatolia to the Syrian desert that was once so flush with wildlife, various ecosystems, and rich soils that it became the cradle of human civilization — the place where wanderers became city builders. It was here that Homo sapiens first developed the cultural and technological mechanisms that allowed them to build great temples and later to farm, become sedentary village dwellers, and, eventually, to construct great cities.

It was in this region that the conflict between Cain and Abel arose. The story goes that Cain the farmer became jealous that his nomadic brother, Abel the shepherd, was receiving preferential treatment from God, so he killed him off. This is often seen as a periscope of an older Sumarian story which represents the rise of sedentarization over nomadism. Certainly, this shift in human living strategies — the claiming of permanent land rights over migration — did not come without conflict. So I went to the land where Abel once roamed and Cain once toiled in I went in search of my species’ lost nomadic roots the earth to try to piece together the story of human restlessness for to the very area of the world where they were first myself. ▶

26 VAGABOND EXPLORER

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example. Now at Göbekli Tepe we have the proof that these man made structures were used for rituals and used for religion. So the temple is much earlier than the city.”

of humanity’s deep past. In ancient Sumarian tradition there are stories about a mythical mountain dwelling in the north called Du-Ku, where grain was first sowed, animals domesticated, and weaving was invented: the rise of farming and the fall of human migration. There is a “So the temple was the adhesive, the focus good chance that the colossal events which surrounded point, which brought people together?” I this place were passed down through the ages to be asked Professor Schmidt, getting right into remembered as folklore, with each subsequent culture the interview. manipulating the stories to fit their own paradigm of his“Yes, focus point,” he replied, “A platform for tory. I grasped each story as handholds and climbed the people to meet and to communicate and back through time to the beginning of civilization, to the to share knowledge and stories and to talk. place where it may have all began: Göbekli Tepe.

They were very important social places.”

I asked Klaus about the rumors that the site he is excaKlaus continued to provide a picture of how vating very well could be the actual place the Garden of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers would con- Eden story was rooted. He huffed quickly, and replied verge upon Göbekli Tepe for festivities as that he was misquoted by an unscrupulous journalist. we turned off the highway and made way along a nar- “It is a picture [Göbekli Tepe being the Garden of Eden], row dirt and gravel road towards a protruding hill in the it was used as a picture and later there was a misuse distance. Klaus soon halted the forward progress of the of this picture. The climatic conditions here were like “FIRST CAME THE TEMPLE, THEN THE CITY,” SPOKE vehicle so that I could fully take in the scene before me. paradise for hunters and gatherers. They were living in a Dr. Klaus Schimidt, the German archaeologist who leads “You can recognize the limestone plateau, and on top of the research at Göbekli Tepe, the world’s earliest known the limestone plateau there is this mound of earth, a hill. temple. My search for humanity’s hunter-gather past Everything is artificial, it is not nature. It is a settlement found me riding in a little grey car to the base of the mound.” hill upon which this great archaeology site sits, 15km outside of Sanliurfa, Turkey. Göbekli Tepe is truly one It was Göbekli Tepe. of the most groundbreaking archaeology sites currently being investigated on the planet, and the findings that I looked out at the place whose name means “Pot-belly have been uncovered over the past 17 years are literally Hill,” and the little dirt road that snaked up its side. It rewriting the book on how civilization first arose, as well looked like a giant buxom flopped out upon the Anatolian as providing a window through which the initial seden- plain. Just as the effect took, Klaus revved up the engine once again and we slowly crawled up to the apex of tarization phases of humanity can be viewed. the giant boob. My excitement level rose: I was there, “It is the idea that the sanctuary may be earlier than the at ground zero for human sedentarizaion, at the place settlements, or at least at the same time,” Schmidt con- where nomadic hunter-gatherers grew to become civitinued as we turned onto a highway outside of Sanliurfa, lized farmers. “but we don’t have the cities, the cities are developing much later than the temple. In the Near Eastern archae- Göbekli Tepe is the temporal door that crosses the divide ology often you can read about how the cities had first between the free roaming days of Abel and the agriculdeveloped and then within the cities the first temples tural toil of Cain. This was the stage upon which the [were made], but that is not true: the temple and the city wandering hunting and gathering act of humanity first are very separate. The temples are very, very early, they began its great close. The times surrounding Göbekli started in the Paleolithic era with the painted caves, for Tepe are still vaguely remembered in the collective folklore

To the World’s First Temple

27 VAGABOND EXPLORER

Dr. Klaus Schimidt

situation like paradise, but there is no connection to the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve had been thrown out of this garden, but it is not describing a natural condition. There is no connection between Eden in the Old Testament and Göbekli Tepe.”

Neolithic Li fe at Göbekli Tepe THE FIRST INCARNATION OF GÖBEKLI TEPE BROKE ground roughly 12,000 years ago, and for the next three thousand years people used it for great ceremonies and feasts. “It is a little bit surprising because we expected for this period that the people had been living in very simple social conditions, but now it is looking very different,” Schmidt explained how a high level of social organization must have been needed to build such a massive site. Schmidt estimates that it must have taken work teams of hundreds of people to construct Göbekli Tepe throughout each of its various stages, and the organization needed to feed, house, and assign tasks to this large of a work crew hints that early Neolithic society was vastly more complex than archaeologists previously assumed.

As I walked around the site I could hear the crunching sound of flaked flint coming from beneath my feet. On the ground were thousands of pieces of flint discarded thousands of years ago in the manufacture of stone tools, along with some of the tools themselves. Trained as an archaeologist, I began instinctively focusing my eyes on the array of artifacts that were passing beneath my feet, identifying blades, choppers, utilized flakes, amongst other primitive stone implements.

“Millions, millions,” Klaus spoke when I mentioned the profusion of artifacts that laid all over the mound. “Of all the archaeologists visiting this site everyone says ‘I never saw such a mound of flint.’“ In the USA, finding such a cache of artifacts alone could have made an archaeologist’s career, but here at Göbekli Tepe there was bigger competition for the researcher’s attention, and the little stone tools that momentarily held my intrigue all of a sudden fell towards insignificance when I saw the site’s main attractions: ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

Photo: Rolfcosar, Wikipedia Down in a ten foot excavation pit, giant T-shaped monoliths arranged in circle formations broke through the ages and into the present. Twelve great T-shaped monoliths stood in a circle around two even larger T-shaped monoliths. Each giant pillar was carved from a single piece of stone, stood up to ten feet high, and weighed between seven and ten tons2. The excavation teams have now uncovered four such rings of megaliths, spanning between 30 and 100 feet in diameter. Geomagetic surveys show that there are at least 16 other such rings still buried beneath Göbekli Tepe, which itself is around 1,000 feet from end to end and rises over 50 from the plateau.

Around these rings were once walls, and there may have even been some ceilings. These rings of stone giants obviously mark the site of major events in prehistory.

What was most striking about these giant monoliths is

28 VAGABOND EXPLORER

that they are intricately carved with predatory animals and birds — lions, foxes, vultures, ducks, and mystical beasts. What is even more interesting is that in addition to the animals reliefs which don the pillars, the very pillars themselves have human forms. “You see in the front,” Klaus pointed towards a particularly tall pillar, “there are fingers. So we know that this T-shape is an anthropomorphic shape. They are all anthropomorphic beings made of stone. It is strange that there are no eyes, no nose, no mouth.”

Like people sitting in a tent or around a fire.”

were actually living here. “They [hunter-gatherers] would come back to the site, meet at the site, then go back to their settlements,” he continued. For 3,000 years people would converge upon Göbekli Tepe and feast, party, make tools, carve predators, birds, and mythological beast into giant megaliths, and worship. These were people who had not yet invented pottery nor did they use any form of metallurgy. Rather, they would laboriously shape their huge stone pillars and make their intricate carvings using the simplest of stone tools, remnants of which I was stepping upon as I walked on the mound.

Göbekli Tepe was beginning to take on a new light before me. This was not an archaeological site made for utilitarian purposes, but one that was made for mystical, spiritual, and religious practices and celebrations. This site represents not only lost ways of living, but also lost ways of seeing and approaching the world. The carved reliefs of predatory animals along with the giant anthropomorphic pillars show that the hunting and gathering bands that once walked through this part of the world I looked at the giants and could see the human forms had highly complex social and spiritual systems, a finely clearly: hands stretched out at the sides of most of the worked worldview that extended beyond the basic hunt Ultimately, Schmidt believes that there are burials to be pillars, representing a vital element of the ceremonial site. for survival and into the realm of the spiritual. found beneath Göbekli Tepe. He hypothesizes that it “Now one can understand the layout,” Klaus continued, was a holy site for ancestor worship or for ceremonies “Göbekli Tepe is the oldest site, but it is clearly not a “They [the giants] are meeting here in a circle, and two surrounding a death cult. “Monumentality in prehistoric settlement site. It is a site for sanctuary,” Klaus clarified very important ones are in the center of the meeting. and historic times is always associated with graves,” he ▶ to make sure that I did not harbor notions that people vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

stated. The vultures that are depicted in the megaliths are indications of the site’s role as a place associated with the dead, and, perhaps, excarnation — where the deceased are offered to birds of prey to be eaten in a form of sky burial. Klaus makes assumptions that the dead of the hunter gatherer communities would be taken up the mound to the temple at Göbekli Tepe to be laid to rest. Although only flecks of human bone have been found to date, Schmidt predicts that there are complete burials beneath the limestone floors, at the feet of the stone giants.

anybody could have predicted, and my free wandering currently known as the first place in the nomad visions were quickly giving way to a reality. world where wheat was cultivated on a large scale. Nestled in the Karacadag Mountains, Neolithic people began manipulating strands of wild wheat as “HERE IN THE NORTH, IT’S THE HEART OF THE their lifestyle began to change.

Fertile Crescent,” Klaus spoke as he pointed out across the hills of the Karacadag range off in the distance from The area around Göbekli Tepe eventuthe summit of Göbekli Tepe. “The origins of domesti- ally became the heart of the Neolithic cated wheat can be traced to exactly here in this region.” revolution, the place where humans first shifted from hunting and gathering to I looked out across the great plains and hills that dotfarming. “The origins of domesticated ted the landscape. “Here,” I repeated softly to myself, “What was the environment like then, was it the same as wheat,” Schmidt spoke, “can be traced “it all ended here.” I thought of my now extinct nomadic today?” I asked Klaus while looking out into a grey sky exactly here to this region. All the cultibrethren, real life Prometheus who knew not where their as my feet sank a little into ground. vated wheat has some fingerprints which innovations would lead 10,000 years after their crematch the fingerprint that the wild forms “The climate was like today, but the landscape was ation. Nevalı Çori, 64km northwest of Göbekli Tepe, is of wheat have in this region. Now it is looking very different,” he responded. “Now there are getting quite clear that the same people too many sheep and goat and people.” Klaus then told who were building Göbekli Tepe were the me that this area — the northern reaches of the Fertile same people who were domesticating Crescent — was an intermediary span of geography in the wheat,” Klaus continued. “There is lots of equipment between seas and deserts, plateaus, plains, and mounfor grinding here, so they processed the wild cereals tains. By traveling relatively short distances you could here, it is clear.” find yourself in very different landscapes that had very different flora and fauna. “There were forests here in the “Why do you think people started plains, and savanna like landscapes in the plateaus,” the domesticating crops?” I asked archaeologist continued. “The animal bones at Göbekli Klaus.

Tepe show wild cattle, wild pig, deer, as well as gazelles “Why? It’s a big question,” he and wild ass who like savanna.” The remains of animals replied as we walked around from various climatic settings found their ways to Göbekli to another area of the excavaTepe where they became meals for Neolithic huntertion. “Why? Why? I don’t know gatherers. “For hunter gatherers, it was a very perfect why, but now we have the idea surrounding. Good for hunting,” Klaus continue. that maybe Göbekli Tepe had In this place that had a perfect ecosystem for their lifesome part in this event, that it style, Neolithic hunter-gatherers began experimenting played an important role. It is still a hypothesis, but [with with other living strategies. Perhaps out of a need to so many] people gathering at Göbekli Tepe they now continue fueling societies that were ever growing more had other needs for their food supply, and maybe they complex and the massive public works projects that gave are managing and manipulating the natural strands of life to Göbekli Tepe, the hunter-gatherers began reeling in grasses for cereals and animals like cattle and pig, sheep the reigns of control they held at their fingertips, and they and goat, and starting this domestication to have more eventually began cultivating grain and beast. Göbekli influence on their food supply. . . There had been big Tepe shows that the early Neolithic peoples were vastly feasting at the site during the construction, so the hunter more organized and their societies more structured that gatherers were coming here for a big feast, a big party,

A grinding slab used for processing grain

The Advent of Agriculture

“ The

and this party provided the manpower to do all this work, but, of course, for this feasting you need a lot of food . . .”

“So the people who built Göbekli Tepe came here and partied while building?” I wanted to confirm.

origins of domesticated wheat can be traced exactly here to this region. It’s getting quite clear that the same people who were building Gobekli Tepe were the same people who were domesticating the wheat.”

29 VAGABOND EXPLORER

“Domestication had originally been in connection with feasting,” Klaus clarified. “So the feasting and the need for a good food supply were influencing the domestication. So now we need very good food, we need the cereals, we need a lot of the cereals and so on.”

Certainly, Göbekli Tepe and the cultivation of wheat in the region were contemporaneous and the evidence suggests that they were parts of the same cycle: one impacting the other, and, perhaps, vice versa. Klaus went on to describe how he hypothesizes that the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture was a “full scale revolution,” where large bands of people worked together to protect their newly cultivated wheat from ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

intruding animals, such as gazelles and wild donkeys. “Now it is fitting better with the picture of the party,” Klaus Eventually, Göbekli Tepe was not just being used by joined me in laughter, “for the big party at the mound you hunter-gatherers, but by farmers, and Klaus feels that need some drinks.” the site had a large role in the transition.

Agriculture for Beer, Not Food

The Effects of Agriculture, The End of Göbekli Tepe

“DO YOU FEEL AS IF AGRICULTURE IS AN INHERently destructive act?” I asked the German archaeologist.

KLAUS THEN PAUSED FOR A MOMENT, LOOKING out from our perch on Göbekli Tepe far of into the dis“The people around 8,000 years ago, I think maybe they tance. I stood beside him sharing the view. Klaus then liked agriculture very much because they had a good food shared with me a new hypothesis for the impetus behind supply,” Klaus replied and then paused for a moment. the advent of agriculture: “But if you look at today you see all the destruction of the earth, it started with the invention of agriculture.”

A limestone vat that may have been used in beer production After the Neolithic Revolution, when the people surrounding Göbekli Tepe became full time farmers, the new pillars at Göbekli Tepe began to shrink in size, and then, eventually, the site fizzled away into obscurity. “In this period of the 9th millennium everything is reduced,” Klaus confirmed. “In 8,000 BC, everything is abandoned. The people had become farmers. I suppose there is a clear connection between the end of Göbekli Tepe and the people who became farmers. The complete society had been changed and the belief system had been changed, and a site for hunter-gathers was no longer very important for the people who abandoned it, but it was not a destruction, it was just an end.”

“You can use it [grain] for food, and you can also use it for beer,” he explained. “There are now ideas that the beginning of cereal domestication was not so much in connection with bread and with food, but with beer making, for brewing. It is easy to do it, it is not like our beer, all you need is water and if let to stand in some container it will start to produce alcohol. So maybe it was beer making at the beginning.”

The 10,000 Year Explosion

IN THE INTERPLAY OF HUMAN EVOLUTION, 10,000 years is but a bat of the eye, but in the past 10,000 years the cultural and biological patterns of Homo sapiens greatly increased their rates of change and adaption1. In the past 10,000 years the human genome began mutating at a 10 to 100 times faster rate than in all times that preceded this era1. There was no such thing as blue I had to laugh. Neolithic hunter-gatherers climbing up to eyes ten millennia ago, neither were there white people, the temple to party, build giant monoliths, knap ornate lactose tolerance, resistance to many communicable flint tools, feasting on a variety of meats, all while getting diseases, nor even many of these diseases themselves. rip roaring drunk seemed a little too perfect.

As far as archaeology is concerned, 10,000 years ago

30 VAGABOND EXPLORER

contains almost everything: there were no civilizations before then, neither were there even cities, and the pyramids of Giza and Stonehenge were not even thought of until six thousand years later. A lot happened in the past 10,000 years, not just in human culture but also biology, and much of this was sparked directly by the advent of agriculture, which, not surprisingly, was first practiced on a large scale roughly 10,000 years ago.

Sedentarization and agriculture did not initially prove to humanity’s biological benefit either, as the archaeological record shows a stark change in human stature during its initial phases. The early farmers — probably depleted of iron and not yet able to digest milk — became shorter and their brains slightly atrophied. Average height for men dropped from 5’ 10” to 5’ 6” and women likewise lost a couple inches. Humans from farming societies did not regain their Neolithic heights until the twentieth century3. It was as if many of the beneficial evolutionary adaptations that humans acquired through tens of thousands of years of migration, hunting and gathering were being lost as they moved towards the living strategies and diets of farming. The human cultural paradigm had shifted quickly, and biology had to play catch up.

passed through the human genetic code of the farming cultures. New findings by scientists such as Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending show that agriculture and sedentarization rapidly sped up the rate upon which the human genome successfully mutated as humanity biologically adapted to meet the demands of their new living and dietary strategies.

Conclusion

THE PEOPLE WHO BUILT AND WORSHIPED AT Göbekli Tepe were initially nomadic hunters who knew neither grain nor how to sow it, but they began to change the world around them, and eventually set the stage for the infectious spread of civilization over the planet. In a period spanning roughly a thousand years, the mechanisms where put in place through which the plains and plateaus that surround Göbekli Tepe were transformed from forest to field. I went to Göbekli Tepe, stood on the mound and looked out across an expanse that was once a lush forest full of game, herbs, shrubs, and sustenance for hunter-gatherers. That same expanse is now looks beat, having been set upon for thousands of years by goat, sheep, and plow. A lone tree sits on top of Göbekli Tepe, seemingly reminding us of a lost era in human hisMany of the traits that lead to humans to being able to tory, a lost sense of innocence before man moved on to tramp all over the earth and dominate the food chain control the ebbs and flows of nature, of a time before my became less pertinent in the climate of the walled in set- species laid down their satchels and spears and picked tler, and many of these attributes began being weeded up hoes and plows. out of the gene pool as a demand for new traits grew to suit the change in living strategy. Aggression began to The modern human is not completely the same animal as wane and long term planning skills began to rise, muscle was our migratory hunter-gatherer ancestors, and I soon tone decreased and disease resistance grew, physical realized that my search for my species’ lost nomadic endurance went down a couple notches as humans roots just lead me into a study of people who had a became physically as well as culturally civilized4. A birth physical and mental makeup that was slightly different of a genetic sequence known as LCT soon allowed a than my own. I am the product of 10,000 years of super select group of humans between the Baltic and Caspian charged genetic adaption which was suppose to equip seas to digest milk, and people thus found a new source me to be a part of a sedentary, agricultural, civilized sociof portable nutrition1. To contradict a depletion in vitamin ety. My biology is that of Cain the farmer not Abel the D, it is thought that lighter skin tones were selected to nomad, but I know that the restlessness of the nomad better enable the synthesis of this vitamin in the skin5. still lives inside of the modern human, as the wolf still Many new diseases were introduced and spread through lives inside of every dog. humans living in closer quarters and permanent dwell- References: vagabondjourney.com/gobekli-tepe-article-sources/ ings, and thus new resistance to these diseases were vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

in ove olombia L C A CHANCE MEETING AT AN INOPPORTUNE TIME STORY & PHOTOS: JASMINE STEPHENSON

When we met, I had almost given up on love.

after a long, dreary winter. My curiosity was sparked. His wasn’t, as he showed more interest in the cartoon he was watching than my sidelong glances.

My silent pleas at night to find someone with whom I could share a life with had remained unfulfilled. I had abandoned the fantasy, coming to terms with my destiny The hours passed and the conversation began to flow of wandering alone like a nomad without a tribe. between the three of us over excessive games of Jenga and cups of agua panela. I caught myself staring at the When we met, I wanted nothing more than to be alone. rasta from across the table, watching as he carefully slid As an introvert, spending too much time within the mass a block out of the stack and placed it on top, satisfied of humanity exhausts me until I reach a point of break- with his efforts. The student from Armenia noticed the ing. I needed to be alone, very alone, away from small connection that had started to form between us and talk, social obligations, and other restrictive elements that chivalrously faded into the background. come from maintaining contact with others.

That night, the rasta and I headed to dinner with the hostel owner and his summer fling. When our identical meals arrived, I watched in disbelief as his hand hovered I arrived in Salento, a cute town on the tourist map over his food for an instant before eating. I asked him in the middle of Colombia’s coffee region, with the intendoubtfully if he was practicing Reiki. He looked up from tion of renting a farm far, far away from civilization. The his plate, startled, and confirmed with a slow nod and a hostel I chose ended up being an intimate affair, the kind small smile, his eyes burning into mine with a deep sense where bonds form quickly and intensely and avoidance of familiarity. of other guests is impossible. Not what I was After dinner, we strolled around the pueblo, resisting the looking for, but I wouldn’t be staying long. urge to hold hands, marveling at all of our similarities.

Two Colombians sat around in the common I admired his commitment to live area, seemingly pleased by the injection of by spiritual principles. He lauded estrogen in the room. A student from the my nomadic lifestyle and nearby city of Armenia immediately began unrelenting pursuit of chatting me up, his eyes flirty and his my dreams. Intense words laced with innuendos. His friend moments of silence remained on the couch, occasionally and mutual reflecglancing up from the glaring televition came and went, sion screen to meet my eyes. moments that made my body flush and filled eternity with Shy and reserved, his dreadlocks their expansiveness. seductively draping his shoulders, his smiles were like the first sunny day I couldn’t sleep that night. I

31 VAGABOND EXPLORER

Jasmine riding in Jardín, Colombia

laid awake, giddy as a girl with a middle school crush. I tossed and turned in my bed, in complete amazement at this person who had entered my life at the most inopportune time. Could this really be true?

responded by declaring me his wife and glanced at me from the corners of his eyes, boldly and unabashedly. I quickly looked down to hide my flushed face, smiling to myself. I didn’t correct him.

The next day found us together again, both excessively smiley, both preferring to suffer the discomfort of a bursting bladder than spend a minute apart to empty it. We passed another afternoon strolling around the charming town, wandering past its pastel-colored walls and handicraft shops that line the narrow main street.

Our new friend dried off and scampered back to town, leaving us in the midst of rocks and wild flowers scattering the countryside. I kept a safe distance away from him, afraid to meet his eyes, afraid of the intensity, afraid of losing myself, afraid of letting him in.

We talked about our past relationships. I told him that as We came upon one of Salento’s characters, an energetic a solo traveler with three years on the road, my romantic lady’s man who nominated himself our tour guide for the history was littered with flings, false starts, and meanday. He led us down a solitary, muddy path, climbing ingless encounters. He had just gotten out of a long over small hills, through loose barbed wire fences and relationship, and went traveling through Colombia alone over fresh cow patties until we arrived at a gurgling river to clear his head and heal. “Pero me gusta alguien,” he that flows around the outskirts of town. said, leaning close, his smile vulnerable and daring at the same time.

Before stripping down to his boxers to bathe in the chilly water, he asked us about our relationship. Giovanny Alarm bells went off. Is he going to kiss me? I’m not ready! ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

The waterfalls of Termales de Santa Rosa de Cabal, Colombia

We went back to Salento right before our six-month anniversary. We had spent three months traveling through Ecuador and the northern tip of Peru before giving in to our longing to return to Colombia.

We went back to Salento long after the initial honeymoon phase had faded. We had endured months of loving, arguing, and all the other day-to-day struggles that a couple goes through, exacerbated even further by the highs and lows of months on the road.

We revisited the place our love was born, amazedly discussing all the changes that had occurred in Salento in just half a year over arepas at our favorite breakfast spot.

We strolled through the town’s narrow streets until dusk, hand in hand, reliving the magic of six months prior and reflecting on our time together thus far.

We sat watching a movie that night, alone in the living room, his arm around my shoulders, my head resting on his chest. He turned his gaze towards mine, his eyes wandering over my eyes and lips. I was comforted by his proximity. I closed my eyes, and his lips gently brushed mine. It was a kiss that stopped time. A kiss that made me feel at home.

I hastily switched my gaze to the river in an attempt to hide my fear and willed my heart to stop beating so loudly in my chest.

It was a kiss that stopped time. A kiss that made me feel at home.

Darkness began to set in and we started making our When we met, I had plans to head south pueblo way back to the hostel. He helped me over the barbed hunting and exploring the rest of Colombia — alone. He enclosures, grabbing my hand and pulling me over the was making his way back to the capital, reinvigorated top. His hand was warm and comforting in mine. I didn’t after his solo vacation, ready to plunge into his work and want him to let go. start fresh.

We sat watching a movie that night, alone in the living By our third day together, we both knew that I would be room, his arm around my shoulders, my guard down. going back to Bogotá with him.

He turned his gaze towards mine, his eyes wandering over my eyes and lips. I was paralyzed by his proximity. I I knew I had to give this love a chance. closed my eyes, and his lips gently brushed mine.

32 VAGABOND EXPLORER

Straddling the hemispheres at Ecuador's Mitad del Mundo Jasmine & Giovanny's romance continues in Colombia, where the two can currently be found at his family home in Bogotá.

Keep up with Jasmine's travels at jasminewanders.com

vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

A

Haze

of

Sex and Beer

NOTES FROM ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA 1994 STORY & PHOTO: MICHAEL ROBERT POWELL

A

WAKE. Ahhh! My ...Shit-who’s-this?

head!

Need

a

piss!

I should go out ...Just for one beer. Yeah, right! At six glasses of beer for a dollar, I wouldn’t trust myself with 30 cents!!!

S

Stumbling out of bed, I wake her or she’s already awake for she faces me and I say “Morning;” thinking “I slept wake with a cum-filled condom still gripping my with her?” ...She’s a “sugar mummy” (an older woman). dick. Spent rubbers lay thrown from the bed, leakHer name is Arbayba but beyond that all I recall are loud ing on the wooden floorboards, scattered among empty orgasmic embraces. Fuck, I hate losing the sexual details! wine and beer bottles. Still lingering on my fingers: the S scent of pussy, Durex and dope. ’m sitting at my window — staring ...out. FreeI watch her dress. Her shapely brown legs leading my spirited ladies hover round noisy, brightly-lit bars, on eyes to her white-laced knickers, now gone. Those this street where scores of men cruise or hang-out on intense gray-blue Somali eyes and runs of black, spiralthe sidewalk, checking the chicks. ing hair; gone. I lay back in bed, wishing I could re-run From each bar rhythmic beats blare. From the bar directly the night again, cos I don’t remember anything. Except below my room, comes floor-vibrating beats. And from that she’s Rosa, age 25, and one of the most beautiful the street outside loud music surges — disco, soul, tribal, women I’ve ever seen. techno, reggae — with night into my room via the open, S welcoming window of this cheap, Italian-era hotel, on ’m thinking about tonight — Saturday. Party night! “the piazza;” Addis Ababa’s red light walk.

Christmas soon. Man, this past week’s been one long S Saturday night. One long X-mas eve. So maybe I should y eyes are red and strained — and shit, it’s stay in tonight? Give my body a rest. Yet, sleep’s not taken a full day of eating and sleeping to feel this possible. Not with the street just a few meters below. Not good. Should I go out tonight? It’s tempting — cos it’s when my window presents such insane street theater. not like I’ll sleep till 3 or 4 or 5 a.m. — or whenever the 11:34 p.m. Sitting on a box outside the bar opposite is last bar shuts. a bouncer. He’s blanketed in a white shawl, covered by green balaclava, revealing only his eyes, nose, mouth,

I

I

M

33 VAGABOND EXPLORER

I

beard; in his hand a large wooden staff. Talking to him, two women, both leaning against the sidewalk railing, chewing gum, waiting, watching. The bar — the entire street row of windows — are latticed by sliding steel gates, and everywhere outside these neonlit cages soliciting women humor piss-drunk males; guys like famished flies, hovering around, spending no money, chancing on a free fuck.

12:07 Two guys play fight like teenage, attention-hungry dorks.

12:10 Two police in khaki greatcoats and white-banded captain’s caps, carrying batons, and AK-47’s, sort out a dispute. They escort an adolescent male away; still the middle-aged guy shouts.

12:14 Am wondering “Who will share my wine?”

A bottle-top chips-clips-clatters (along the asphalt). Am staring into my half-empty — no — half-full bottle of Then shouting — @#*?!! and struggling; a woman’s red, flickin’ my joint ashes into the beat-up metallic-blue arm remains twisted within a smiling arsehole’s grip. aluminum ashtray, writing this crap — when, someone in the street below shouts: “MIKE! MIKE!” A car slows, creeping ...creeping-creeps checking chicks: “Heyyy, Babe!”

I gaze down to see Arbayba outside the bar: the “sugar mummy” from the other night, standing there beside the Still a barrage of bass bouncing %%%% — thumpingbouncer; now waving to me. thumping bumping from the bar downstairs. Then mad fucker — “WAAAAaaaarrr” — shrieks like a human hyena. She arrives dressed entirely in black — like a smokin’ Twangy string instruments squealing to an amplified business babe in heels, stockings, skirt, shirt and jacket. woman’s wailing.

The brilliant black and white of her eyes, and her widening smile — grab my balls, like a vacuum cleaner.

Whistling.

She is not as old as I’d thought. In fact Arbayba is only 29 (and I was 28). And although she hasn’t Rosa’s intense “Waaaaaaa! ...Hey mon!” again that spluttering, gagging, beauty, her manner and person are so much more attraccoughing, old geezer; wearing ragged clothes, a bowler tive. She is happy to share my wine, my dope, my bed; hat, and wa-wa-waving a stick. (Mad as sun-baked our night. maggot.)

Car beeee-ping!!!

Glass bottles kicked — tapping-clapping-chippingSMASHED. A metal belt-buckle clunks on the floorboards next door (as someone undresses?).

“Hey...! Hey..!”

Crying child, crying some 40 meters along the street, where adults and kids sleep curled on cardboard, wrapped in blankets. Still the child cries.

12:04 A boy (aged 10 – 11 – 12) with a tray, hawks cigarettes, sweets, matches, peanuts, chewing gum and condoms.

ADDIS MENU: A DESIRABLE DIET? Cheese & Ham pizza Roast beef, with potato & veg.

Spaghetti Lasagna European cakes Cup of Espresso 750ml spring water Bottle of red wine 6 half-pints of beer in a bar A woman in bed all night

$100 $100 $100 $100 12¢ 12¢ 20¢ $150 $100 $7 00

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R

S

osa hangs out in this bar; staff and patrons call her “Somali” — cos of her unusual, blue-gray eyes. She joins my abused, cigarette-burnt table. I order another round of “Jumbos” — double-pint draught beers.

Rosa’s cuddly, smiling, sexy as it gets — I need to be with her, again.

The other morning as I watched her dress she’d asked “Last night, good?” I’d replied “I don’t remember”. She laughed.

We drink more jumbos — which I pay for, of course, then along with 10 birr (a payment of $1.50 to the Mama San, for Rosa’s early release, as the girls are free to go, after 11 p.m.). Tonight I feel a little drunk — but, BUT determined to remember our passion.

Damn. This woman is a real beauty but a real bitch; playing mind games and mood swinging. Is this her? Or is this what her job has done to her? It’s sad. I’m sad. A case of my hopes for love; again misguided.

Rosa’s super-model-looks would demand attention in the West ...yet here, she etches a life from casual, freelance prostitution. She knows this, and I wonder if she sees me as her means of escape? Looking into her eyes, she seems bitter; cheated. Her beauty should be enough to guarantee her success. But, it has not.

M

S

alcolm X — Excellent movie. Really enjoyed it.

Shed several — discreet — tears as Mrs. X howled over her hubby’s bullet-ridden body. Very sad stuff. And luckily, the lights took a while to return so no one saw the sobbing white man. But when it came to shuffling along the aisle and out the theater, I felt strange; reflecting on what Mr. X called “White Demons” and wondering how

34 VAGABOND EXPLORER

Lifted from Addis Ababa’s Englishlanguage newspaper, the Monitor Dear Editor, I read a disappointing letter by one of your readers ...It is true that the sorry state of things in Addis can be shocking to a person returning home from abroad. But suggesting that the police round-up beggars and house them in some concentration camp in order to please the fine sensibilities of Ethiopian ladies returning home with their foreign spouses is a bit much. ...Ms. S.P. should come down to earth and face the facts squarely. We are a very poor nation and the way we are going, our future does not seem too bright either. Therefore we should show some sympathy and engage in positive action to assist the needy, or at least refrain from making childish comments which only add insult to injury. The problems that cause poverty are varied and complex. However, I can assume Ms. S.P. that their solution does not lie with the police.

Dear Editor, Sir, I have been a resident of Addis for ten years and want to record my appreciation for an improved efficiency in the traffic police force in this city.

Although it is too early to say the traffic situation in Addis is now perfect, I think there is a considerable improvement and people are becoming aware of some rules and regulations. I have noticed many motorists actually observing traffic rules and the city’s taxis are beginning to be tamed. A phenomenon that did not exist earlier. Moreover, the traffic police on the street seem duty bound and busy.

Also something of a new occurrence here...varied and complex. However, I can assume Ms. S.P. that their solution does not lie with the police.

the others around me — me, being the only “Demon” amid a large African audience, viewed me ...But no one had anything negative to say, having shared the same few hours of fullon, movie-world racial-tension. Most people were as surprised to see me, as they were shocked by the film’s content.

S

I

sit on a stone prayer slab, beneath the trees, and meditate (on a hill overlooking Addis Ababa at the domed, St. George Cathedral: built in 1896 to commemorate the Ethiopian victory over an Italian army at Adwa) …and there, I watch.

The hurting eyes of women shrouded in black (it will take a month or two before the black clothes return to the wardrobe and color returns to their lives again). The careful steps of an elderly priest, circling the church, stopping to pray, to bless, to kiss the stone of each and every arched window, where Jesus and Mary, shrine out and bright, in colored light.

And while the church doors are locked shut – large loudspeakers urge worshipers to come, and pray. On stone slabs they prostrate amid trees; others crowd the steps surrounding St. George. An intense murmuring wafts towards the dome and mighty cross, eyes gazing up to the awaiting miracles, somewhere, somewhere, somewhere in the sky.

S

H

ad a drug- and alcohol-free night ...and woke up exhausted.

1

G

ave to three homeless, ragged people today but couldn’t face the other fifty I walked past. Everyone expected the foreigner to feed them. I’d bought a handful of peanuts from a woman sitting with a tray on the footpath, and 2 minutes later I was shifting them from my palm into an urchin’s hand.

Michael Robert Powell has been traveling the world since 1988 on a journey that has taken him through over 100 countries on every continent. He is known for diving head first into cultures and places, revelling in their dark underbellies as well as their bright surfaces.

Unabashfully experiencing and then telling all, Michael is unique amongst modern travel writers, and his stories often have the tendency to shock, disgust, enlighten, and inspire concurrently.

Join Michael in each issue of Vagabond Explorer as he dips into over two decades worth of traveler tales and takes us with him on a trip to the ‘other’ side of travel, or visit his website at thecandytrail.com.

vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

BECOMING A TRAVELER Ditching the Cubicle PHOTOS: SAM LANGLEY

The Becoming a Traveler series shows how various world travelers made the transition from living a sedentary life to one of perpetual motion. This first installment investigates the art of cubicle ditching: the act of opting out of a professional career for a life of travel.

Vagabond Explorer interviewed Sam Langley from the United States, now in his second year of continuous travel after trading a fast rising career in the insurance industry for a backpack, a pair of boots, and a declaration of geographic self-determination.

1

Could you give us a brief summary of your work and lifestyle before you began traveling as well as an outline of where you have traveled since leaving the corporate life behind?

an MBA was my next logical option. Life’s inertia and my career were pushing me in that direction. The only problem was that every time I would think about grad school I would become depressed.

Before I left you could classify me as another young twenty something with a decent paying 9-5 job on his way to the normal American life: The car, bachelor apartment, going out for drinks after work and partying on the weekends. I had started working shortly after graduating from University for a large American auto insurance company as an analyst pricing auto insurance. Two years later I was steadily moving up the corporate ladder and had become a manager in the same department.

I eventually realized the only reason I was even thinking about grad school was because others told me it was a ‘smart move’ and the next life step to take. Returning to school would require a serious amount of dedication, time and money that I wasn’t sure I was ready to invest at the time. I didn’t agree with going back to school just for the sake of going back to get an advanced degree and I was growing tired of my current job. I enjoyed the people I worked with but at the end of the day I found little joy in working 40–50 hours a week in a job that lacked any greater purpose than setting insurance rates.

When I left I booked a one-way plane ticket for Mexico City and since I have traveled through Mexico and Central America. Currently I am traveling through South America for at least another four months. My initial plan was to travel throughout Latin America for around a year.

2

Do you remember when and from where your urge to travel arose from? What was it about the corporate/ office life that did not satiate your hunger for life, why did you want to leave it all behind to travel?

Once becoming a manager I began thinking about what my next step was career-wise. At the time it seemed like

35 VAGABOND EXPLORER

very simple. My main goal before leaving was to leave debt-free so that my only cash outlay while traveling would be my daily cost of food, shelter, transportation and any other costs associated with travel. I didn’t want my money slowly draining out of my bank account for any other reason that wouldn’t be associated with my current life.

an apartment was by far the most time consuming step but Craigslist makes getting rid of things fairly easier and there are always friends looking to take certain items off your hands. The final steps were buying a one-way plane ticket and giving my notice at work.

4

Could you describe your last days in the office before quitting? What did your coworkers say?

What warnings did your family give? Did they all think you were doomed? Did they express admiration or jealousy?

After paying off my student loans the other steps taken were travel related; get some shots, figure out where I was going, what I would take and then finally selling all of my stuff. Before I had left I had sold almost everything My last days in the office went better than expected. All I had owned with the exception of some personal items, work colleagues were very supportive and expressed clothes, and my car which my father convinced me to jealousy. If there was anyone that thought my life choice ▶ keep. Selling almost everything I owned that furnished Sam in Todos Santos Cuchumatán, Guatemala, during the Day of the Dead. “ The locals start drinking at midnight and then decide to race horses up and down a blocked street from sunup to sundown.

I paid a guy 20 quetzales (US$2.60) to let me ride his horse in one of the races. ”

If an MBA would lead to more of the same then I wanted no part of it. I had always wanted to travel and I realized I was in a perfect situation to make it a reality. I was single, I didn’t own a home, and had a decent paying job that allowed me to finish paying off my student loans and save some money at the same time.

3

How did you prepare for ditching the cubicle for a life of travel? What steps did you take prior to making the leap?

Once my mind was made up I found preparing to leave

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Monte Fitz Roy, Patagonia, straddling the Chilean/Argentine border.

was foolish they were smart enough not to voice their opinions. Most didn’t understand how I could just travel for so long and thought I had secretly inherited some large amount of cash or the idea seemed too idyllic to them to be true.

Warnings from my family were fairly straight forward and consisted basically of, “Be careful.” and “Don’t do anything too stupid.”

5

attend to and in that way the corporate lifestyle I lived and traveling stand in opposition to one another.

they were doing something which gave them a greater began traveling I realized that a lot of places you visit do begin to look alike. enjoyment in life.

I think everyone, no matter what they are doing often So, I think there is some dream that all of us have to cast thinks that something other than what they are currently away our current obligations for greener pastures but it doing will be more enjoyable; whether that’s traveling or a usually involves some sacrifice and isn’t necessarily the career change. When I left work there were many people rosy picture we painted in our heads. who said, “Oh, I’m so jealous. I wish I could do what What have been some of the surprises of world you’re doing.” Of course, they could but they first need travel? to get used to the fact that their future financial stability wouldn’t be quite so secure anymore and that’s where Once you start traveling those places that you only people stop wishing or dreaming and come back down dreamed about while staring at a map or daydreamed to reality. What seemed amazing to them at first then of while sitting at a desk are now standing before your became not so appealing when their current life stability eyes. That never stops surprising me and I always say, would be jeopardized.

“I’m actually here in [insert place].”

6

Do you feel as if the traveling and the corporate lifestyles stand in polar opposition to each other? Is there a widespread dream in the corporate setting of wanting to break out of the cubicle to jump to the opposite end of the spectrum — throwing the perception of job and financial security to the wind — to travel perpetually? If so, how did I have met several people who have made the decision Some of the disappointments? the dream of traveling full time match up with the to quit their current jobs and travel or switch careers and reality? for all of them except the lucky few had put their financial While traveling the sun isn’t always shining down on you security in jeopardy. All of them, however, found their and your path isn’t lined with flower petals. The romanI would say my life now versus a year ago is different overall quality of life had improved because they knew ticized notion of travel is overblown and shortly after I by the fact that I currently have no major obligations to

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36 VAGABOND EXPLORER

The biggest challenge or disappointment I have found though would be developing longer-term friendships on the road and maintaining friendships from back home. I have missed out on friends weddings, births of children and other events that I wish I could have attended back home.

8

Do you feel that ditching the cubicle is a viable option for young people like yourself who are thinking of escaping the corporate structure that they spent so many years building up? Do you recommend others to take the road that you traveled?

I wouldn’t recommend others to follow the same exact plan I took but I wouldn’t discourage it either. Traveling may not be everyone’s cup of tea. What I would suggest for others is that they don’t simply move through life blindly following the next step presented in front of them. ▶

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Do you have any regrets about jumping off the corporate ladder for a life of travel?

I don’t have any regrets about leaving. I consider it one of the better decisions I’ve made in life.

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I have often told prospective travelers that they can often return back to where they came from job and career wise if they decide that the traveling lifestyle is not for them or they want to return to more of a stable life. How do you feel about this? Do you think that it would be possible for you to ditch the rucksack and return to the cubicle — essentially returning to where you came? Or do you think that it would be difficult to land a similar job and get back on the same career path both in terms of being employed and your ability to live this kind of life after being outside of the corporate box for so long?

been out on the road for around a year — sowing your wild seeds from Mexico to Patagonia so to speak — what do you plan to do now? What are your plans for work, healthcare, security now that you have so firmly seized hold of the dream of traveling the world and are now poise to turn this venture into a lifestyle? What will you do when your savings run out?

At some point I do plan on returning back to the States and settling down but I couldn’t tell you when that would be. My life plan at this point is very loosely defined and I prefer it this way for the current time being. In the near future I know I will continue to travel South America and when money starts to run out I’ll do what all of must do at some point; work. I would like to work and live outside of the States and am currently thinking that when money runs low I would teach English in South Korea for a year.

There are still too many places that I still would like to see before moving back to any type of job that others would When I left the company I worked for I left on good terms consider a ‘career’. and believe I could return if I wanted. I probably wouldn’t For more about cubicle ditching and Sam's travels, visit his blog at be able to return in the same role or at the same pay but I cubicleditcher.vagabondjourney.com believe I could return to something similar. Outside of my Placencia, Belize past company I think it would be difficult to find a similar job I had given the current economy but after traveling I don’t think I would want to look for a similar role. Once again sitting in a cubicle and watching the outside world move by would be a type of torture that I don’t think I could handle at the moment.

For those that are unsure if this is the life for them but would like to try it I would recommend that they seek a possible unpaid leave of absence from work. If traveling isn’t for them then they can then return to work if they wish or if they don’t want to return they can give their final notice on the road.

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In conclusion, I must ask about the future of your life as a traveler. I am sure you are asked this question often, but it is one that I must ask as well as it seems to be on the minds of so many prospective long term travelers:

Now that you have quit your corporate job and have

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The Postmodern Vagabond:

An Interview with Rolf Potts

Rolf Potts has been traveling the world for well over a decade, documenting his experiences and insights for various magazines and websites, as well as in two books: the classic long term travel manual, Vagabonding, and a more recent collection of travel stories, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There. Vagabond Explorer caught up with Rolf to inquire about his visions of modern day travel as well as where the traveler stands in the postmodern world in the following interview.

In the subtitle of Marco Polo Didn’t Go There you describe to yourself as a “postmodern travel writer” and explain the usage of this term in the introduction as “the increasing placelessness that accompanies any information age journey,” but what I’m interested in is how do you feel this current era of travel differs from the ones which preceded it?

all stuck traveling in the present day. And I think that’s great. It’s a great time to travel, and there are countless options for the independent traveler.

Many of the stories in Marco Polo Didn’t Go There revolve around the struggle of trying to escape the tourism infrastructure, which is something that many travelers strive to do, but so many seem WR IDOO ÁDW DQG UHWXUQ KRPH GLVDSSRLQWHG KDYLQJ This current era of travel offers much more information, not captured the essence of travel that they set much more connectivity to the independent traveler. In RII WR ÀQG :KDW ZRXOG \RX VD\ WR VRPHRQH ZKR 2008 I was in much closer contact with friends and fam- proclaims that adventure is dead and travel in the ily while staying in the far-flung Kenya/Sudan/Uganda postmodern era is but a stale and commercialized border town of Lokichogio than I was while traveling the shadow of what it once was?

American West during my first vagabonding journey in I think part of the problem is not the reality of travel, but 1994. The difference was that I had a smartphone and the expectations of travel. When you dream of a USA Internet connections in 2008, whereas in 1994 I just had road trip, you don’t imagine the billboards; when you phone booths and a calling card. dream of walking along the Seine in Paris, you don’t The funny thing is, of course, that the old hippie-era trav- imagine running into a Segway tour; when you dream of elers I ran into on my 1994 trip kept telling me that calling Bali, you don’t dream of Balinese people shod in Nikes, cards and ATM access were ruining the experience listening to hip-hop. So has the presence of billboards of travel, that it was a much purer and more involved or Segways or Balinese hip-hoppers ruined your experiexperience in the 1960s and 1970s. I try to keep this in ence? I don’t think so. Each of these is a manifestation of mind before I pass judgments on the travel conditions not only place, but the era in which we live. It’s not that of the present day. I think you can still have an amazing, hard to find roads without billboards, or Paris neighborimmersive travel experience in 2011; it’s just going to hoods that don’t have group tours, or Balinese people be implemented in a different way than it was in 1994 or who live a more traditional life.

1969 or 1923. I’m sure those hippie-era wanderers were The thing is, it’s easier to complain about the beaten lectured by old-timers who traveled before the jet plane path than to make the effort to get off it. Why is this? or the car or the telegraph, or whatever. In the end, we’re Well I think that travelers actually like the beaten path, ▶

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because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s full of comforts, and â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even more importantly â&#x20AC;&#x201D; other travelers. About ten years ago a couple of anthropologists studied Western backpacker behavior in Central America. It turns out that backpackers tend to wildly exaggerate two things: How much money they spend (they always claim to spend less than they actually do); and how much time they spend off the beaten path, interacting with local people (their â&#x20AC;&#x153;rememberedâ&#x20AC;? time off the beaten path never matches up with their actual empirical time off the beaten path). Both factors are less a matter of travel than of status within the traveler subculture.

So while some people are hanging out in Panajachel (or Anjuna, or Lamu, or wherever) with other travelers, worrying about how commercial and overcrowded things are getting, the true indie travelers are off by themselves, quietly getting into actual adventures in more far-flung parts of the country. The world will always offer adventure for those people willing to stop complaining and start pushing their comfort zone.

Through reading the end of chapter footnotes of Marco Polo Didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Go There, there seems to be a difference between traveling for recreation and traveling with the intention of writing about the H[SHULHQFH +RZ GRHV ZULWLQJ DERXW \RXU WUDYHOV and publishing your stories impact the way you travel? Do you feel as if writing provides the impetus for grasping a deeper experience of a place, people, and situations? Conversely, do you ever feel that the mental act of collecting impressions to write about and the physical act of taking notes takes you out of scenes that you would otherwise experience more fully?

itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great to approach a journey with a narrative sensibility, even if you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have specific plans to write about it.

That said, your narrative sensibility can lead you astray at times â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and this is another issue that has a lot to do with expectations. You might become obsessed with writing about, say, the Hindu naga sadhus at the Kumbh Mela fest in India, when in fact thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a more subtle and telling story in the interactions between middle class Indians and the Westerners living in the Rainbow Family camp at the edge of the festival (this happened to me once in Allahabad). So any time you experience something new as a traveler, you run the risk of mistaking what is obvious with what is exotic; if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re less concerned with â&#x20AC;&#x153;finding a story,â&#x20AC;? you might be more inclined to just experience things as they are, and analyze their significance later. And yes: Taking notes can be a distraction.

But taking notes can also help you remember things and make connections. So while Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not going to say that traveling as a writer is the best way to go for everyone, it seems to work well for me.

geo-political and multi-cultural cohesion it almost seems as if we are experiencing a wave of reactionary xenophobia towards long term travelers, The classic paradigm of adventure travel is as many countries are making moves towards tied to the Age of Exploration, where intrepid low-density high-income tourism, drastically rismen (and some women) set forth on physi- ing visa fees, and immigration zones like Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cal adventures to rugged lands. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why Schengen that grant tourists a mere 90 days to â&#x20AC;&#x153;adventureâ&#x20AC;? is still associated with physical YLVLW FRXQWULHV journeys and remote places, with sailors and kayakers and mountain climbers. The thing is, many In this setting, what do you see as the future of high-profile â&#x20AC;&#x153;adventureâ&#x20AC;? expeditions leave less to chance vagabonding? Do you feel that due to the coming in terms of variables and outcomes than private travel- together of the world in so many ways that art of ers improvising their way through unexpected situations. long term travel is now, ironically, becoming more So while Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not going to dismiss physical adventures GLIĂ&#x20AC;FXOW" entirely, I think the postmodern notion of adventure is a The opportunity to go vagabonding will always be there, though the contexts in which this happens will always completely different concept. be changing. When I was a kid, during the tail end of the It is also, as I note in Marco Polo Didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Go There, a fixa- Cold War, international travel was much more restricted tion of folks (mostly Western, but not always) who live and complicated than it is now. I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think bureaucratic in industrialized countries. In one chapter, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Death of an decisions or centralized tourism-planning initiatives have Adventure Traveler,â&#x20AC;? I tell the story of how my Burmese- that much effect on people who see travel as something Thai barber in southern Thailand had lived a far more more than a vacation. The world will always have options physically adventurous life than any of those guys who for those who are determined to wander the world slowly, wander the fringes of the earth with a satellite phone and quietly, and for the long-term. a North Face sponsorship. And he wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t getting into these adventures for a sense of personal accomplish- For more information about Rolf Potts, visit his online haunts at ment; he was doing it to make ends meet and feed his rolfpotts.com and vagablogging.net. Also, be sure to read a review family. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s easy to overlook refugees â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or even working- Rolfâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most recent book, Marco Polo Didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t Go There, in this issue of class folks â&#x20AC;&#x201D; when speaking of adventure. Summiting Vagabond Explorer.

K2 at the tail end of climbing season is impressive, but it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t compare to working as a peripatetic tin-miner for 20 years, or traveling on foot from Darfur to Chad after your family has been killed. or taking a bus to a village that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t in the guidebook, and improvising from there.

The stories of this book seem to frame the idea of adventure as something the traveler must work for, that it is not something that is simply inherent WR WKH DFW RI PRYLQJ WKURXJK WKH ZRUOG :KDW GR you think constitutes adventure in the post-modern age of travel? Is it the same classic paradigm that has been worked and reworked over the generations or do you feel that there is a new, more (DVW KDV QRZ PHW :HVW WKH Ă&#x20AC;UVW ZRUOG LV UXQNo approach to travel is seamless and perfect, but trav- subtle rendition of adventure and unique experi- ning headlong against the third, entire continents are dropping their internal eling with a mind to write about your experience can ence in the postmodern age of travel? borders and forming huge multi-national increase your attention to place, and challenge you to I think adventure is subjective. For some people, espeimmigration/ trade zones, there are embrace experiences you might not have embraced oth- cially those at the beginning of their travel careers, more multi-country geo-political erwise. As a writer, you start to identify the elements of adventure can very much be the simple act of moving leagues than I care to count, and many your experience that might make a story, and you record through the world. For someone else, adventure might of the long held dichotomies of world the details (sights, conversations, anomalies, smells, his- mean climbing a mountain, or learning a new language, geography are being blended together torical elements) that might bring that story to life. I think LQ D ELJ JOREDO VWHZ %XW LQ WKLV DJH RI

39 Â VAGABOND EXPLORER

Faces from the Floods PHOTOS: DAVE, THELONGESTWAYHOME.COM

E

very year the Philippines is bashed by heavy monsoon rains. A poor infrastructure and a developing economy mean many thousands are affected. Mudslides to the north wipe away entire roads, towns and homes, only for the people to return a few weeks later to rebuild humble bamboo and tin roofed housing once more. To the south, rivers swell and, with no embankments, sweep across townships, cities, and villages, destroying crops, livelihoods, and homesteads.

It’s in times like these that communities come together due to large organizations that offer to distribute food and clothing. Local community shelters are used to distribute necessities to the people who can make it there.

Sadly, there are also many local groups that will collect this aid in the name of their community in bulk. It often means there is not enough aid left to distribute to all the people.

This was the case at a shelter of a small village barangay on the island of Mindanao, where the food queue ran out of a rice and milk mix. There’s perhaps nothing as haunting as seeing a hungry child look at an empty bowl as other people leave with large sacks of rice for more unknown faces.

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43 VAGABOND EXPLORER

TRAVEL TIPS How to Select a Camera for Travel

BY WADE SHEPARD

WHAT MAKES A GOOD CAMERA FOR TRAVEL?

only to realize that you can’t photograph the view because your camera did not make the journey intact. It really sucks to unsheathe your camera to take a picture of a beautiful vista, girl, or building just to find that it shakes like a maraca with no chance of ever turning on again.

I know how disappointing it is to turned off your digital camera just to have the lens get permanently stuck as it attempts to withdraw into the body. I have also felt the still posing for you. The travel photographer documents anger of having an “underwater camera” break upon real life, and real life moves. Whether the subject is a being taken underwater. I have had many cameras malsunset, a beach, a market, person, building, or yourself function on me in my travels — usually they just stop there will often be elements of motion in it: life rarely sits turning on with no other sign of still, a traveler needs a camera that can capture life as it damage — and I know moves without blemish. The travel photographer needs DURABILITY, ULTIMATELY, IS THE TRUE DECIDING t h a t it often costs nearly a camera that can take a clear, sharp image from this factor as to whether a camera is good for travel. In point, as much to repair most digital world of motion. you can battle through using a camera that tends to cameras as it does to just buy a new take poor quality images, and a camera that has a slow one. In point, durability is the prime attribute to test when Travel photographers also must adapt themselves to reaction time still, ultimately, takes photos, but a camera evaluating a camera for usage in travel: a broken camera the natural lighting elements in the scenes they shoot. that is broken is completely useless. I have probably is useless.

Unless setting up a shot with models, lighting equiphad a dozen cameras break on me throughout my travment, and a rig of gear, the camera toting traveler must els. During one infamous stretch of travel through the figure out how to take good quality images from low southern cone of South America I lost four cameras to light, bright light, back lit, and direct light situations. This breakage over a few month period. In point, I arrived at SELECTING AN ALL-PURPOSE CAMERA FOR TRAVEL becomes vastly easier if the traveler has a camera which a point where I realized that photo quality and reaction is one of the biggest chores of the profession. Volumes can adequately produce photos from an array of various time mean little when weighted against durability, and I can be written about what to look for in a travel camera, light settings. now select cameras that may lack the first two attributes and what follows are my personal parameters based on in exchange for being able to drop it, take it under water, experience. sweat all over it, and use under hostile circumstances.

The Less Moving Parts the Better Some of the best views in travel often come after feats of REACTION TIME IS PERHAPS THE BIGGEST endurance and my camera needs to be able to capture challenge I have had to face when searching for a good these images, and, in point, be as tough as the road I This is my motto when looking for an all purpose travel camera, but this all too often means selecting a device digital camera for travel. Today, many digital cameras walk. that is, more or less, cheap and deficient in photo quality take adequate quality photos for general usage, but, all It’s a real let down to climb up to a mountain’s summit and reaction time. I have a prejudice against cameras ▶

After over 11 years of traveling the world and taking photos, I have isolated three main attributes that make a camera good for travel: 1) Photo quality, 2) Reaction time, 3) Durability. In point, taking a photo means nothing if it comes out blurry, a good quality photo means little if the camera takes so long to turn on that the prospective target is long gone, and the above two factors mean absolutely nothing if the camera is broken. A good travel camera will satisfy the above three credentials in full — if it’s lacking any one of these attributes then it is unsuited for documenting life on the open road.

Photo Quality Overview PHOTO QUALITY IS, QUITE OBVIOUSLY, ONE OF THE most important element when choosing a camera to take traveling. I cannot say how many inferior digital cameras I have tried to use in my travels. Few things that I have experienced top the charts of minor annoyances quite like setting up a great photo and having it come out in a mess of color swirls, double images, and opaque blurs. Consistently fighting with a camera to take good photos when traveling can easily become so frustrating that you eventually just want to bow your head in defeat and leave the camera sheathed in a bag. Doing so and missing out on what would have been excellent photos has been one of my bigger regrets in travel. Humans are natural problem solvers, but for a camera that takes inferior photos there is but one solution: get rid of it, count your loses, and get a new one. A digital camera that takes high quality photos without a fight is perhaps one of the most sought after pieces of travel gear. Like so, do not go into selecting a camera for travel lightly.

What is probably most challenging about travel photography is that a traveler lives in a moving world. You are often in motion as you take a shot, the subject is often doing something as well, or at least not standing

44 VAGABOND EXPLORER

too often, they have a very slow reaction time. By “reaction time” I am talking about the waiting period between turning the camera on and when it is ready to take a photo, the amount of time between shooting one photo and being ready to take another, and the seconds between when you push the clicker button and when the photo actually takes.

I generally have my camera in a breast pocket, in my hand, or in the front pocket of my pants when out in the streets. I am always on the lookout for something to document with a photograph, and I take pictures all day long. In point, I am always at ready to whip out my camera and shoot, my pistol is a device that captures light waves rather than one that expels a projectile. It is only a pity that my cameras are sometimes not able to keep up with the speed of my draw. I have missed hundreds of photos because of slow camera reaction times.

Durability is Essential for Travel Photography

How to Select a Camera for Travel

Reaction Time is an Important Feature for a Travel Camera

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TRAVEL TIPS that have a lens that moves in and out of its body like a turtle’s head going in and out of its shell. I have seen too many of these cameras break and this motion alone seems to suck the life out of the batteries. My mantra of selecting travel gear has become: “The less pieces something has, the less pieces that can break.” Cameras with fancy moving lenses may be great for getting good zoom shots, but they are also invitations to breakage.

When selecting a rugged, all around travel camera I look for ones that have completely enclosed lenses which zoom while inside the body rather than protruding out of it.

2

Shockproof and Waterproof

I also recommend cameras that are water and shock proof. A simple role in a hammock with a standard camera in your pocket is often enough render it broken.

Also, cameras are often unexpectedly dropped, tossed, or crushed in the coars of travel. Even if you do not plan on going SCUBA diving, it is still a good idea to have a camera that can handle those moments in travel when you unexpectedly find yourself getting wet from a down pour, waves, a gang of kids with water balloons, or even a public water throwing festival. If a regular digital camera makes only the slightest contact with water, sand, heat, cold, is dropped, thrown, or has too much weight applied to it, there is a decent chance that it will conk out. A good all purpose travel camera should have the continence of a rock — if it doesn’t, look elsewhere. Travel is an outdoor activity — you go out into the world to see what is there — and the traveler needs an outdoor camera.

3

Lithium Ion Battery or Equivalent Over AAs

Simply put, battery quality in most of the world is pitiful. I once took a trip out to the west of China with a brand new

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cameras are equipped with very good lenses and often take comparatively high quality photos.

would recommend for the traveler who wants to make something of their photos. Traveling with a nice dSLR that takes excellent photos along with a portable and durable all-purpose camera is probably the best method digital camera and a stack of brand new for successful travel photography. This method means AA batteries. I put the new IN TERMS OF TESTING A CAMERA, I RECOMMEND having a really high quality camera for the easy days of batteries in and doing so in person. Buying a camera before testing it travel when you are just strolling around a town under a the camera turned on just long yourself is a recipe for disappointment. I have done this sunny sky and no rain clouds in sight and a tough ass enough to turn off again. I tried the same with the rest before, and have been left with unsuitable cameras for camera for the days when you are out hiking, climbing, of the batteries to the same ends: the camera would long stretches of travel. Even though you can often get or in transit between destinations. In this way, you are not work. I chalked this up to the camera being broken a better deals on cameras online, it is my opinion that it equipped to take the best quality photos possible in just and I did not bother with it for the rest of the trip. Upon is a good strategy to at least test a prospective camera about any setting without risking the security of your returning to the east of China, it became apparent that out in a store before ordering online. If doing this is not equipment. my problems were not with the camera but with the bat- possible, then at least try to find a friend or another travteries: the brand new AAs were not strong enough to eler who has the camera that you may want who will let I want to be able to take photos in all settings, but I would not dare take an expensive camera out on a hike power a digital camera. I found this to be true throughout you test it out. in a rainy climate, up a mountain, on a bicycle trip, or in my travels with this camera to other parts of the world.

If you are able to do this, I also recommend testing out the bush when camping. Therefore, I generally opt for For my next camera, I opted for one that took a lithium a camera under various light settings. Maybe you could the all weather/shock proof cameras but I know that ion battery, and found that it could be charged by plug- ask to take it into a backroom of a store or turn off the these devices all too often do not take the highest quality ging it into an electric outlet almost anywhere in the world. lights in a hostel dorm room to shoot off a few photos in photographs. If I had the funds, I would pick up a dSLR Each charge lasted for around two weeks of regular use. a darker indoor environment. Try to test out the camera and use it when the going is good and keep it shelIt was almost too simple. in as many light settings as possible, and record the tered when the road ahead looks a little rough. Switching between these two types of cameras means having the Some travelers who are bent on using cameras that take results. option to photograph in various situations and record the AA batteries counter me by saying that you When you are checking out a camera, be sure to test full travel experience in images. could just use rechargeable batteries and the reaction time. Count the seconds between pressing an electrical jack, and, I must admit, that the on button and when the camera is ready to shoot a this works. But I know that I do not want photo. Do the same for the time between shooting one to have the added weight of a dozen picture and when the camera is ready to take another, IF UNDER BUDGETARY OR SPACE/WEIGHT restrictions in your travels, and you must choose a single batteries and a big bulky jack in my as well as how long it takes to snap off a shot after you camera, I would wholeheartedly recommend a cheaper rucksack when I could opt for a single small and light push down the clicker button. Also, be sure to test the lithium ion set up. Now, many cameras that take lithium reaction time in the camera’s various settings, as some and more durable digital camera that can be used in a far ion batteries can even be recharged through the USB settings produce fast shots while others lag considerably. greater range of circumstances than an expensive and often cumbersome dSLR. Having a high quality camport of a laptop.

If any of the above scenarios have a reaction time greater era means little if you are hesitant to use it out of fear Go for a Brand of Camera that has a Reputation than 3 seconds, chuck the camera and look for another. of it getting broken, wet, or stolen. In the end, it is the for High Photo Quality Ultimately, you want the reaction time of a travel camera smaller all-around, multi-purpose cameras that will allow Simply put, some camera brands have reputations to be under one second — almost instant. the traveler to take photos in the widest range of environ-

Testing a Camera Before Purchasing It

Conclusion

4

for taking better quality photos than others. Read the reviews, ask around, and check out the cameras of other travelers when you meet up with them. Personally, out of the cheaper options, it is my opinion that Canon A TWO CAMERA STRATEGY IS ULTIMATELY WHAT I

Two-Camera Strategy for Travel Photography

ments and settings. A superior travel camera will take quality photos under “live” circumstances, it will have a quick reaction time, and be able to stand up to the rigors of the open road.

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TRAVEL TIPS The 80¢ Travel Stove TIP & PHOTOS: WADE SHEPARD

HOW TO CONVERT A TUNA FISH CAN INTO A FULLY FUNCTIONAL, EFFICIENT, AND CHEAP COOKING DEVICE! There’s a whole array of camp and travel stoves out on the market — from butane to kerosene, white gas to solid fuel — and so many varieties of portable camping stoves available for sale that the once primitive act of creating fire to cook some beans in the bush has been turned into adventure in consumerism.

I have some simple advice here on what travel stove to purchase: none of them. Instead, make one yourself!

For only US$0.80 and ten minutes of work you can have a fully operational alcohol burning stove that rivals all the $100+ commercial models in terms of functionality, efficiency, and weight.

Materials Needed

How to Use a Tuna Fish Can Alcohol Stove

USING A TUNA FISH CAN TRAVEL STOVE IS NO MORE difficult than making one. Just pour in the alcohol, light it up with a match, let the flame warm up for a moment, and then put on whatever you want to cook. Generally, these stoves work best for boiling watery contents in Open the tuna fish can, and discard (eat) the conpots, and the pots can be laid down right on top of the tents. Wash the can out, remove the label, and stove. In my experience, a tuna can alcohol stove will throw away the lid. boil water in a 6” diameter camping pot in roughly five As this is going to be a side burner stove, it needs minutes, and use but an ounce or two of fuel. ventilation holes for the fire to breathe and also to One point to note is that these tuna can alcohol stoves rise up through to meet the surface of the pot. To make are very prone to wind impact, so, if using outdoors, these, use the paper hole punch to put holes just under making a wind shield is advised. There are many ways to the lid around the complete circumference of the can. do this, but one method that is recommended is to use Try to keep the holes roughly an eighth of an inch apart, aluminum foil. To do this, wrap a sheet of tin foil around making two staggered rows (like in the photos). the outside circumference of your pot, giving roughly 1 Standard size tuna fish can 1 Paper hole punch 1 Can opener

1

2

Done! Your travel stove is now completely fabricated.

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three inches of additional play. Then take this foil and fold it length wise. Now make it into a ring shape and connect its two ends together, and then put it around

your pot and stove so that it blocks the wind from blow- When abroad, being able to find suitable alcohol fuel is ing the flame. a hit or miss endeavor. In Latin America, the fuel that you need is called “Kemar” or cooking alcohol. Or you Keep in mind that these stoves do not have an off switch. can look in the pharmacies for bottles of rubbing alcoSo once they are lit, the only ways to put them out is to hol that have 90% written somewhere on the bottle. In smother them with dirt, or pour water over them, or just Europe, denatured alcohol is generally available, but you wait for the fuel to expire. may have to do some searching for it. Generally speaking, adequate alcohol for cooking can be found in most places in the world.

I GENERALLY USE 90% OR HIGHER ISOPROPYL (rubbing) alcohol as a cooking fuel. Keep in mind that the lower grades rubbing alcohol — such as 70% or 30% THESE TUNA CAN STOVES PROVE TO BE VERY — will not work for cooking purposes, but other types of efficient cooking devices, burning just an ounce or two alcohols can also be utilized. Many long distance campof fuel for each pot of water boiled. At a price of under ers recommend denatured alcohol, a.k.a. methylated $2 for 16 ounces of 91% isopropyl alcohol in the USA, spirits, which is ethanol mixed these stoves are very economically efficient as well. with methanol and other additives to make it Although a commercial multi-fuel camping stove may prove to be more versatile than my tuna fish can alcoundrinkable (to avoid excess taxation hol stove, it is my impression inherent to selling that the two devices do the same thing: they straight ethanol).

This type of alcoprovide a flame over hol, besides being which a traveler can used as a cooking cook their food.

The major differfuel, is also used ence here is that as a solvent, and a tuna can is just can often be found in about free. I actuhardware stores, camping ally prefer the tuna supply shops, and even gas stations. Denatured alcohol can as a cooking stove, as it is a one piece device, is sometimes dyed bright, is very difficult to break, can be toxic looking colors to repaired easily (if it gets misshapen just bend it inhibit the unscrupulous from attempting to drink back into shape), are easily replaceable, take it. Most commercial alcoa readily available fuel source, and a pot can sit hol camp stoves need this steadily on top of the stove itself without needkind of alcohol to work, but ing a grill or any additional supports. These tuna your tuna can stove will also can stoves are not just specimens of travel gear that burn 90% rubbing alcohol as well. should be used because they are cheap and easy to Pure ethanol can also be used, but it make, but they are simple, rugged, efficient, cheap, light tends to be more expensive to purchase and should be weight, and, best of all, do the job. only resorted to if the other two alcohols are not available. More travel tips available at vagabondjourney.com/travel-tips/

Notes on Fuel

Conclusion

vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

Design

REVIEWS Canon PowerShot D10

REVIEW BY SAM LANGLEY

THE CANON D10 is perhaps the ultimate travel camera. If you’re looking for a durable camera that you won’t have to worry about breaking that also takes great photos, then I believe this is the camera for you.

Durability

(AEB) for HDR images, however, there has been a recent hack to give you AEB, live histograms and While traveling I have found that this camera is the one motion detection as well as several other features that electronic item in my pack that I didn’t worry about break- are usually found on higher-end cameras available at ing. It can withstand drops from up to 4ft, temperatures http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/D10. as low as 14ºF (-10ºC), and is waterproof down to 33ft.

This camera has fallen off of my bed onto a tile floor and I have thrown it across a concrete floor having it bounce and roll several times with no issues. I have not had this camera completely submersed in water for prolonged periods of time; however, it has gotten wet from ocean waves with no adverse impact.

One word of caution is that if this (or any waterproof camera) takes a hard fall the casing of the camera around the hinges of the doors could become compromised and my no longer be waterproof at deeper depths.

Performance The quality of photos is in-line with what you would expect from a Canon. I personally like the vibrancy of Canon’s colors and this camera doesn’t disappoint in that aspect. The menus are also similar to all of Canon’s other cameras and I found them easy to learn. The speed at which this camera turns on and off is also very quick.

If you want to pull out your camera and take a quick photo you do not have to stand around waiting for the camera to start-up. As soon as you push the on button it’s practically ready to take a photo.

In reading other reviews the main performance flaw seems to be some type of lens error. Some report getting a message that says, “Lens Error – Restart Camera” and the camera refuses to start. I’m not sure what causes this problem and even after dropping this camera several When I purchased this camera I was initially disap- times haven’t had this problem. pointed that there was no Auto Exposure Bracketing

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This is the one area where the camera brings me some minor disappointments. The D10 is bigger than most point and shoot cameras and is bigger than other similar ‘tough’ cameras. This makes it difficult to just put in your pocket and forget about it. I was also not a big fan of the blue color but that’s more of a personal thing. If you aren’t a fan either you can simply unscrew this cover as it’s only a small plastic plate that severs no purpose to the camera. I also don’t like that there is no lens cover.

There is a clear plastic plate over the lens and I found myself cleaning this cover frequently to ensure my photos didn’t come out blurred.

I liked the idea of the movable strap that Canon designed.

Instead of having one location for the strap you can move it to any of the four corners. The only problem is that if you put the strap on the bottom two corners of the camera it doesn’t have any type of stability when you set the camera down and it will tip over.

I

do like the large buttons on this camera. This makes it easier to use underwater or when I was on top of Tajumulco and needed to wear gloves but still wanted to take a photo.

Overall, I have enjoyed using this camera and would recommend it for anyone going on a trip that will have a high amount of activity or uncertainty. You will produce some nice photos with ease and not have to worry about this camera breaking in the middle of your trip.

We live in a wacky, upside down world. change your perspective

About the reviewer: Sam Langley from cubicleditcher. vagabondjourney.com left a prosperous career in the insurance industry to travel the world. After moving through Mexico and Central America he is now in South America looking for adventure.

Read more gear reviews at gear.vagabondjourney.com

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REVIEWS Rolf Potts’ Marco Polo Didn’t Go There REVIEW BY WADE SHEPARD

“MODERN TRAVEL IS THE HUNT FOR THE RANDOM MUNDANE,” Rolf Potts wrote in Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, and, although this may seem at first to be a real buzz kill of a statement, approaching the world from this angle has the potential to increase its radiance exponentially. The interconnected “globalized” world has eased some of the stark contrasts between cultures, but the subtle interplay of various societies, technologies, and worldviews in collision has been magnified many fold. As Rolf put it: “Platonic ideals aside, the world remains a fascinating place for anyone with the awareness to appreciate its nuances. Social critics who proclaim that “real travel” is dead are just too lazy to look for complexities within an interconnected planet... “There is a new art to traveling in the postmodern world, and Rolf Potts teaches it vividly in Marco Polo Didn’t Go There.

Chasing the Paradigm of Expectation Marco Polo Didn’t Go There starts out with a series of articles that climax in misadventure. These stories primarily have to do with Rolf facing the ever-taunting challenge of getting off the backpacker trail in countries with thriving tourism industries. These pieces are often cyclic, where Rolf goes off to have an “off the beaten track” adventure just to return back to backpacker trail slightly disillusioned. In one of these stories Rolf sets off to enter the set of the filming of The Beach in Thailand, and ends up just paying a lot of money to have a boat driver take him out to sea just to be caught by a security boat and returned to where they came from. In another story, the author decides that he is going to go out into the Libyan Desert of Egypt on foot, just to run out of water. In another tale the narrator spends a day hanging out with touts in Istanbul just to be drugged and robbed. In yet another story Rolf goes on an expedition

48 VAGABOND EXPLORER

to a region of Laos that was truly untouched by tourism just to realize that he is acting as part of the force which will soon change the place into yet another tourist head water.

Tourists trying to escape tourism is a major theme in global backpacker circuits, as is the mythology that the “authentic” side of a country is found in the places that has the fewest signs of what foreign backpackers would call familiar — which even extends to the backpackers themselves. There are preconceived expectations in any tourist circle of what a country “should” be like, and anything short of these expectations is labeled unauthentic, corrupted, Westernized, soiled. There is an artificial dichotomy set up between visions of the exotic and the realities of an inter-connected world, which is, ultimately, the same worn dichotomy between an idea of purity and the stain of the impure. Ironically, these expectations of the authentic that many backpackers set off into the world with are fantasies that were manufactured by the same tourism industry which they try to escape.

In the first story, called Storming the Beach, Rolf tells of a travel writing stunt where he tried to crash the set of the movie, The Beach, which was being filmed on a nearly deserted island off the coast of Thailand. As a side anecdote to his narrative, Rolf tells of how the movie producers planted palm trees all over the beach because they were concerned that the naturally palm-less Thai beach they were going to film on did not look enough like a “Thai beach.” In another tale, Rolf tells of how a Burmese Christian working reception at a backpacker hotel in Thailand would routinely get into arguments with the foreign clientele because he did not fit into the backpacker paradigm of what a Burmese man was suppose to believe and say. “More than once,” Rolf wrote, “this lead to bizarre scenes in the lobby, where sunburned Germans and Canadians and Californians angrily lectured Matthew [the clerk] about the pacifistic merits of Buddhism while the Kayin desk clerk tremblingly tried to explain how Burmese Buddhists had murdered his brothers. It was as if the backpackers didn’t know what to do with this meek little brown man who, with his professed love of Jesus and affinity for George Bush, didn’t follow accepted narrative of how Southeast Asians were supposed to act.” This theme of foreigners imposing their own paradigm of what they expect a place to be like resonates through Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, as Rolf faces a backpacker culture that would rather plant palm trees (believe in a phony idea of authenticity) than accept the beach (a place and people) for what they are.

Rolf often uses himself as the litmus tester of his tales, and he goes out on to pit his expectations of places up against their reality in Marco Polo Didn’t Go There.

This is no better shown than in a story called Something Approaching Enlightenment, where Rolf shuns going to the highly touristy Dharamsala and heads way out into the Indian Himalaya to a village called Kaza. Rolf wrote,

“Dharamsala had become so popular with other Western travelers that any spiritual epiphanies I found there would feel forced and generic. By contrast, the Indo-Tibetan burg of Kaza was the remotest Himalayan town I could reach by road in late winter. There, in the cobbled alleyways of an ancient and windswept Buddhist village, I imagined I might find a more authentic vision of what the Dalai Lama represented.” Thus the stage was set. After a semi-arduous journey where Rolf faced broken down buses, being picked up by the Indian military, and a village called Pooh, he finally made it to Kaza.

“As I walked,” Rolf explained his journey to Ki Gompa monastery near Kaza, the auspiciously chosen destination of his journey, “I felt a slight twinge of pity for all the travelers who went to Dharamsala seeking the Dalai Lama, only to wind up in guesthouses and Internet cafes full of travelers from Berekely and Birmingham and Tel Aviv. By contrast, I reckoned my final push to Ki Gompa would transcend such banality and lead me into the true heart of Tibetan spirituality.”

He then got bit by a large dog.

Returning to Kaza he sought medical care and refuge in the home of a few horny and drunken Indian men who watched American porno through the night. “I had indeed, it seemed, achieved something approaching enlightenment,” Rolf concluded the tale.

The slaying of delusion is one of the pretexts of enlightenment in the Buddhist sense, and, from this story, it seems as if the author got more of a vision of reality than he bargained for. But jests aside, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is full of such proverbial lessons on how to break through the delusions of tourism and see a little deeper into the heart of a place. This book does not teach the physical mechanics of world travel, but it does provide a working model of how to engage the world if your intention is to get beyond the mental constructs of tourism. ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

REVIEWS Accepting the “Isness” of World Travel Marco Polo Didn’t Go There seems to shift gears near its midway point and includes stories where Rolf seemed to have found his footing in the world as a tourist, and begins to make the most of it. In stories such as Tantric Sex for Dilettantes, Going Native in the Australian Outback, Death of an Adventure Traveler, and the entire “Press Trips” section of the book, Potts has his eyes and ears open, and chucks his dichotomies between the modern and the traditional, the foreign and the local, the authentic and Western influenced, and between tourists and travelers. It is almost as if he stopped chasing adventure, relaxed, and began collecting what stories came his way.

This is not better shown than in Backpackers’ Ball at the Sultan Hotel.

With its setting at the Sultan Hotel in Cairo — a well worn backpacker hostel with two dollar dorm beds — Rolf simply hangs out with a gang of travelers and roams through the city, going to the opera, the belly dancing clubs, an Egyptian movie, and, in the process, shared numerous drunken nights with his fellow backpackers.

Beyond buying a live rabbit and watching it skinned and gutted in the local market, Rolf went through the standard rounds of backpackerdom in Cairo, and came out with a story that presents this lifestyle keenly. Doing something that is truly rare in modern travel writing, Rolf takes the “random mundane” and transforms it into a no frills recipe for world travel that is truly enjoyable, intriguing, and, in the context of modern tourism, counter-intuitive. I quote at length:

additional notes on the preceding stories. These commentary tracks keenly bridge the gap between the “event” and the “story,” and shows how a traveler writer creates sightseeing. The fewer goals I set for this activity, a particular type of literary animation. Rolf is fiercely honthe more Cairo seems to bloom out from its strange est when sharing the background of his published works, corners. My favorite activity is to buy a ticket for the and shows no fear when admitting to bending the truth Metro, get off at random, walk until I’m lost, then ask slightly to better assemble a tale. The commentary track to Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is a lesson in travel writdirections back to the station. ing in and of itself, as the author explains the nuances In this manner, I have collected sights like souvenirs: of the profession. men in alleys building lattices, baking bread, butchering chickens; a herd of goats toddling through a public plaza; Berbers in donkey carts stuck in traffic No tourism office is going to put up posters of India jams. I have seen the incense man swing his censer that has men in Nike shoes and women in casual busithrough a fruit market, collecting ten-piaster tips. I ness blouses; no travel agent is going to sell a place by have seen women in full ninja-style burqa dive onto saying that the people live in high rise apartments and speeding buses; I have seen pious Muslim men sellwatch Friends on DVD; you will not see Maya women ing vegetables, their foreheads black with welts from in traditional dress chatting on cell phones on the Travel praying to Mecca. I have seen garbage choking roof- Channel, but these visions are the reality of our world. All tops and raw sewage flowing through the medieval too often, the paradigm of the authentic is a self fulfilling gate of Islamic Cairo. The call of the muezzin from prophecy in many of the tourism circuits of the world. the mosques — at first a strange, haunting cry — has Foot binding is returning to parts of China, Burmese now blended into the music of my day.” women are once again elongating their necks with

Conclusion

In the postmodern world, the hunt for the authentic, the exotic, the fruit of world travel is no better found than in the random mundane. .

This story is set up from the beginning to have a visit to the pyramids be the great anti-climax, but what Rolf actually goes there he does not regard the bustling crowds of camera pointing, khaki wearing tourists with scorn, he did not fight with the touts, he did not go through the self-loathing routine of a tourist complaining about tourism, no, he took the pyramids for what they were and enjoyed them as any tourist should.

“I pay my ticket and see what I’m supposed to see,” the tale is concluded.

“By my fourth day in Cairo, avoiding the pyramids has taken on a comfortable sort of rhythm. I have fallen into the indolent habit of waking up at noon, What is truly interesting about Marco Polo Didn’t Go stumbling down to the market for oranges and There is that there is a commentary track which follow falafel, then wandering into the city for afternoon each story where Rolf offers background information and

Commentary Track

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Rolf Potts in Chilean Patagonia

gold rings, and Tibetans are ditching their grey slacks and sports jacket for the fur coats and boots that their grandparents once wore in the name of tourism. There is an industry behind giving tourists what they expect to see. Marco Polo Didn’t Go There is one travel writer’s attempt at finding clarity in world rife with contradictions, misplaced meanings, and cultural smokescreen. I read through this book and found myself saying, “yeah, it is like that” over and over. The traveler quickly learns to give up searching for exotic fairy tale lands and to accept places and people for what they are. It is this “isness” of a place that is the intrigue, and Marco Polo Didn’t Go There shows how to obtain this lens of perception and hunt for the random mundane in the postmodern era of world travel.

About the reviewer: Wade Shepard has been traveling through the world since 1999. He is the founder and editor of vagabondjourney.com and Vagabond Explorer.

More reviews of top travel books can be found at books.vagabondjourney.com

vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

TRAVEL BLOGS OF NOTE

Gibbering Madness:

Snapshots of a Bizarre Life

BY GRETCHEN WILSON-KALAV

Oh my — what to say about this particular blog... Well, When I was first asked to be the travel blog reviewer for Vagabond Explorer I have something to say since I did choose to feature it and now review it. Gibbering Madness is not your typical I felt that reviewing blogs captured the true essence of the travel experience. blog nor is its author your typical traveler. Okay, I underI thought to myself, “piece of cake, I read and review travel blogs for a living at stand there is no such thing as a ‘typical’ traveler. We all TravelBlogs.com.” But my first thoughts were a bit misguided; it’s not as easy as it may appear. go about it in our own way. I may choose two metric tons of luggage to drag around while someone else decides Yes, I could randomly choose this or that, but the more important issue was of choosing blogs on two pair of jeans and two t-shirts. It’s all a matter of that would capture your attention as the reader. Tastes in writing styles vary. I do hope I have personal perspective. This is also true when deciding if a blog will appeal to any particular audience. chosen wisely and you will enjoy my first selections.

Contemporary Nomad My original synopsis of their site states, ‘Once upon a time, Tony and Thomas lead sedentary lives. Thankfully, they “chucked” it all for travel and invite you to join their journeys at Contemporary Nomad. Self-described as a mixture of adventure, travel, culture and opinion — they cover all vividly.’ These statements remain true to this day. The exception — there is a great deal of personal backstory for both of them that isn’t completely revealed on their blog.

earlier years. They now (obviously) travel together and document their adventures on Contemporary Nomad.

There have been breaks in their adventures but they do continue to explore this great big world of ours.

I have been asked to ‘comment on the strong points of the various blogs are and what prospective readers can take from them.’ My answers to those requests for this particular site... These two have made the best of adversity. Both have had to deal with what has I interviewed Tony and Thomas been thrown at them as a gay bi(or Thomas and Tony) in August of national couple. They have also 2010. At that time, they had been together for 17+ years. Being a bichosen to throw it back in the form national gay couple, they have had of learning more about the world than most of us will ever explore. several residency issues, which all complicated their situation greatly. Dr. Nora Dunn I know they both disagree on which one is the better (University of San Diego; San Diego, California) has docu- diver... But, they both agree their travels have brought mented those issues in her video: Excluded: Immigration them closer together — rather than break them apart, Struggles of a Gay Bi-National Couple. (Now available for allowed them to be participate in this global society and viewing on YouTube as Excluded: Nowhere to Go Parts write about it with joy and conviction.

1 & 2.) Ultimately, what do you do when such odds are Site: contemporarynomad.com against you? Travel.

More: travelblogs.com/interviews/dart-strikes-map-an-interviewBoth Tony and Thomas had traveled on their own in their with-tony-and-thomas

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the blog to see what that adventure is all about — seriously. And, I’m not the only one who wants to know.)

Strong Points: Gibbering Madness is as unique as anything out there and it does include travel. It also includes great storytelling, suspense, anticipation and entertainment. If you are not a fan of the above-mentioned authors — this may not be a blog for you. But, if you are — check it out soon.

What You Will Take From It: The world works in mysterious ways and you are a part of it. You can choose to follow in other’s footsteps or you can take the road less traveled. Either way, even going to work each day can be an adventure. Life is what you make of it.

Site: gibberingmadness.blogspot.com More: travelblogs.com/blogs/gibbering-madness-snapshots-ofa-bizarre-life

Brendan Harding’s Trivial World of Travel Alex and Gibbering Madness. The perspective of this site is definitely off-center. But, being a bit off-center is not a bad thing and that is what makes this blog as interesting as it is — especially if you are a fan of Dashiell Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardner and Alfred Hitchcock. We can all write about our lives and travel experiences in textbook style: “Basically, we climbed Mt. Everest on day one then dived the Great Barrier Reef on day two. Mom and Dad — I’m still alive on day three.” But there are those who follow a different path. Not many blogs have captured my attention as completely as this one. It may appear to be a bit disjointed, though it is captioned “Snapshots of a Bizarre Life”. Alex has chosen not to put everything in chronological order. I’m still waiting, with great anticipation, to find out what happens with David Viner. (Read

Brendan and I have known each other since 2007. We have never met face to face. I do know he started a program named Asante with his colleague, Dr. Bernard Jennings, offering eye exams and related medical care to the population in Kenya. I also worked with him when he was an editor for Travellerspoint Foundation’s Travel Unravelled blog. I did not know (or I had forgotten) he had a daughter. (Looking back at his entries, I’d forgotten — bad me.) One who is now 18 and pretty much has decided that ‘stupid sharks are not going to eat her because surfing is cool’. There were a lot of cool things I didn’t know about Brendan and it is amazing what you find out about people when you read their blog entries.

Not too long ago in the distant past (2010), Brendan spent a one-month stint as a writer-in-residence at the Latvian House of International Writers and Translators, Ventspils, Latvia. I believe he enjoyed the beer and the ability to just write. I also believe there are those ▶ vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

continental divide issues between writer, travel writer and travel blogger. But, I have found that Brendan has been able to traverse and conquer the divide between all three.

As he has stated: “I’ve tried to pick stories from my travels which don’t seem to fit anywhere else (at least that’s what the editors tell me). They’re just snapshots of life in different places.” Considering my review choices, I must have a thing for ‘snapshots’. Through my eyes, okay make that through my bifocals, all blogs are truly snapshots or snippits of people’s lives. Parts of themselves they have chosen to share using the written word. This one is a jewel.

Life II, The Sequel Once again, I am going to quote my original description of a blog: ‘Simon Cordall has had his obstacles – one of them being the loss of his sight. I don’t mean “insight or inner sight or even hind sight”. I mean his visual sight.

Something we all take for granted. He quotes: “There comes a time in a man’s life when, to get where he has to go, if there are no doors or windows he walks through a wall.” For Simon this is true. He’s passed through the wall and has reclaimed his life – something he is now writing about in a very entertaining and insightful way.’

Simon had a very successful career sitting at an office desk and being the upper management executive team player. Though mundane, it paid the bills and afforded him stylish suits. You must also be aware that at age 21, Simon had been diagnosed with the corneal disorder kerataconus. Following corneal replacement surgery on his left eye (and extensive rehabilitation time), all was back to normal. Some 5 years later and shortly before having the same replacement surgery performed on his right eye, all went to hell in a hand-basket. Making a long story short, his sight was essentially gone. Through the

miracles of medicine and a very large (painful) contact lens, Simon once again had sight and inner sight. Things would never be the same for Mr. Cordall.

whirled around me. So I think it’s time I went and had a look at it.” (I could not have written it more insightfully.)

With his CELTA, Simon headed to Krakow, Poland. He has not stopped exploring the world and is once again on the move.

Strong Points: This is a site designed and written by someone who has not let his adversities stop him from experiencing the world. Instead, he used them to challenge himself and embrace the things he found to be important to his own wellbeing.

What You Will Take From It:

Nothing is beyond one’s reach if they believe in themselves and whatever ‘vision’ is held in the mind. Also, On July 18, 2010, he wrote “This is what I’ve concluded; description is key to placing images in a reader’s mind it’s time to stop thinking of life as a continuous story arc. so there is a shared experience.

If you want, there doesn’t have to be a beginning middle and an end. It can be a whole series of small, brilliant Site: life2thesequel.wordpress.com episodes. It can be entirely random and it can be abso- More: travelblogs.com/blogs/life-ii-the-sequel lutely inspiring. Without vision, you have no choice but to live within your own head. I’ve spent the last three years trapped within my own skull whilst the world outside’s

Strong Points: Diversity. Truthfulness. And, insights of a man who has chosen several career paths over the years. Not only does Brendan open up his personal life to the world, he also covers the volunteer community work in Kenya.

What You Will Take From It: I hope you will take away a sense of inspiration. What Brendan thought would be a month spent easily writing about all of his experiences in Kenya turned out to be something completely different. Rarely do the best-laid plans follow suit.

Site: brendanharding.blogspot.com brendanharding.yolasite.com More: travelblogs.com/blogs/brendan-hardings-trivial-world-oftravel

51 VAGABOND EXPLORER

Where your journey begins

Travel Guides ·∙ Forums ·∙ Photography ·∙ Accommodation vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

DEAR VAGABOND

your own. I am sure that this is not possible to do in any exact fashion, but a relatively heavy WWOOFing schedule would probably consist, on average, of 20 days of being on farms and 10 days between farms throughout the course of your trip. This is just a shot in the dark estimate, as various WWOOFing engagements can last as little as one week or as much as two or three months, In point, some months could find your working each day For each issue of Vagabond Explorer the editorial team sits down to field a handful of on a farm and other months you may find yourself withselected travel questions from the large array that are asked in the Travel Help section of out work at all. To be on the conservative side, I would not expect to be on farms for over 20 days per month Vagabond Journey Travel. This issue’s questions have a distinctly European focus, and cover as an average to apply throughout the duration of your budgetary considerations for a one year organic farming trip, free accommodation strategies one year trip.

Travel Riddles Solved, Vagabonding Conundrums Unraveled

from a solo female vagabond who refuses to drop €50 a night on a French dorm bed, and an overview of the restrictive Shengen visa that has marooned an unfortunate Canadian in England while his travel gear sits in Switzerland. Read more to discover how these readers are advised to solve their travel riddles and unravel their vagabonding conundrums...

A Budget for Farmer Vagabonds

your host during the times when you have these work/ trade arrangements. So this cuts down on two major Dear Vagabond, travel expenses right there. Given this, if you are vigilant My boyfriend and I are planning on WWOOFing/back- about setting up and linking various WWOOFing jobs packing through Europe for a year. We would love to together — so that when you leave one you go right on see the UK, Italy, France, Holland, Germany, Norway, to another — then transportation, recreation, and variSwitzerland, etc. Is there anyway to approximate a ous interim expenses should be your biggest budgetary drains. In this way, your daily expenses should fluctuate cost of a trip like this for one year? greatly between the times you are working on farms and Thanks! the times when you are on your own.

Farmer Vagabonds Europe can be traveled on $10 a day, like everywhere else in the world, but this extremely low budget often Hello Farmers, requires avoiding public transportation in exchange for Giving budgetary advice is a very slippery slope, as I do a bicycle, hiking, or hitchhiking, getting food from supernot know your particular travel style, comfort thresholds, markets rather than restaurants, camping for free in the or your spending habits. In point, some backpackers live bush or Couchsurfing, and not engaging in extracurricuon under US$10 per day in Europe while others drop lar activities like going out to the bars and going on tours. over $100 — and there is a wide range of variations in Unless bent on doing this journey completely “vagabond style” you will probably expect to need a vastly bigger between. budget than this.

As you are planning on WWOOFing (working on organic farms through the WWOOF program) through Europe, To come up with a budget for this trip, I would try to your room and board will more than likely be covered by estimate the amount of time you wish to be working on farms as well as the days you expect to be traveling on

52 VAGABOND EXPLORER

leave you prepared for additional expenses.

For the days and periods of your trip that you are not WWOOFing, it is a little more tricky to add up expenses in advance. Like I said before, Europe can be traveled on $10 a day, but not many people really do this. If I were planning a budget for a day of travel in Europe where I paid for accommodation, food, and inter-city transportation, I fear that I would be looking at at least a $30 – $50 bill depending on how far I took public transport. To be safe, I would shoot for the upper end of this estimate and plan on dropping $50 per day of being in Europe outside of being on a WWOOFing farm. Now, if you are into going out to bars and clubs, eating out at restauAs a rule of thumb, I would estimate spending $10 per rants, and engaging in recreational activities like tours, person for each day of WWOOFing. Even though your museums, and other travel perks, add another $50 per host is suppose to provide you with meals and a place day onto this budget — as it is often in the superfluous to sleep, other extras — like beer or recreation — are not activities that Europe really becomes expensive. included. One night out at a bar in Europe can easily cost So, to make a very rough budgetary estimate, if you are over $30 per person, so a $10 per day budget would vigilant about arranging WWOOFing gigs, and stay at them for reasonable durations of time (two weeks to a month+), I would say plan on working 20 days a month and fielding your own expenses for 10. To add it all up for roughly a year of travel, just do the math: 20 days × 12 10 days × 12 240 days × $10 120 days × $50 $2,400 + $6,000

= = = = =

240 days of work 120 days of recreation $2,400 $6,000 $8,400

Now I would also highly recommend adding a 25% buffer onto this budget for flights and additional expenses, so, in total, I would estimate that you are looking at around $10,500 per person for one year of traveling and WWOOfing in Europe. Now, this is a very bare bones estimate, and if you want additional perks, add to your budget accordingly. On the other hand, it is certainly possible to travel through Europe WWOOFing for less than this estimate, but if you shoot high with your budget the chances of going broke on the road greatly diminishes.

More information about the Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF) is available from their website at wwoof.org vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

DEAR VAGABOND Avoiding the Dreaded 50 Euro Dorm Bed in France Dear Vagabond, I was wondering, I’m backpacking by myself and I’ve noticed that Bordeaux, Tours, and Paris are incredibly expensive to stay in hostels, hotels etc. I was wondering, as a single female traveller, is it a bad idea to sleep at a bus stop alone? I have heard that if you are a solo traveller (especially female) that it is incredibly unadvised. Do you have any suggestions on ways to stay places for free or cheaper? Because I cannot afford to stay at a hostel for 50 euros a night.

Thanks!

Too Cheap to Sleep Howdy Too Cheap, I agree, €50 per night is way too much to pay for a night in a dorm bed ANYWHERE. I am of the opinion that even 20 Euros is too much to pay for a night of accommodation in a room full of drunken travelers that smells like sour socks and sounds like foreplay (or worse). It is a good thing that there are options for the cash strapped traveler to subvert the grossly high price that hostels are now charging in some parts of Europe.

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If you are planning on staying in any of the cities that you mention for over a week, you could try to land a dorm bed for free in exchange for volunteering to work in a hostel. Take a day and go around to each hostel that you may want to stay at in person and ask if you could trade some work for a bed. Offer to clean, do check in and check out, sit up all night watching the place, lead nightly “pub crawls,” and do web and street promotion.

If you keep coming up with things that you could do, and you have a cheery and sociable disposition, you can oftentimes come to some type of arrangement.

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Even better than the station hotel is bedding down Hello Confused, for the night in an international airport. Even though The Schengen zone SleepingInAirports.net voted Charles De Gualle the worst of Europe gives many nationals airport to spend the night in all of Europe in 2010, it is (including Canadians) Note: the corporate hostels are much less open to these probably still better than dropping 50 Euro per night on class C visitor visas deals than the mom and pop ones, so plan your inquiry a dorm bed. The full review of CDG can be found at upon arrival in the visits accordingly. sleepinginairports.net/europe/paris.htm. Again, if you form of an entry choose the airport hotel, make sure that you ALWAYS Single female travelers often have great success stamp in your passstay where there are other people around and try hard rates with hospitality sites like CouchSurfing.org. port. This is what you to stay out of any situation where you may find yourself Keep in mind though that many male hosts around the have, as there is alone with some dude will ill intentions. In point, even if world seem to interpret the title of this site as “bedsurfing” no such thing as it means sacrificing a night of good sleep stay in public and seem to use it as a way to score. visa free entry. view when sleeping in airports.

I would use discretion with Generally, unless using these mediums, and It is my impression that the danger of being a solo stated otherwise, steer towards finding accomfemale traveler in a public setting — even at night — this is a multi-entry visa that is good for all modation with other women. is often vastly exaggerated. In point, if you are in a 25 member states of the Schengen zone. The catch is If you don’t have much luck place where there are other people, police, and things that you can only stay in the entire region for 90 out of with sending out requests (as going on, you will generally face no greater threat than any 180 day period. many CS hosts in popular cities are often booked up) being robbed. In private circumstances — such as in So if you just exited from Switzerland two weeks ago after try getting on the message boards of the various cities a stranger’s home or car — the dangers of being a solo a 90 day stay, then any attempt to re-enter within the next you want to go to and finagle your way into a home stay female traveler increase greatly over your male breth77 days would put you over the limitations of your visa. If offer that way. ren. In this light, stick to public areas as you vagabond you do attempt to re-enter the Schengen zone without through France, try to set up work for bed trades in hosThe station hotel — just sleeping the night in bus waiting 91 days since your last exit, you could risk being tels, Couchsurf with caution, and, if going for the station or train stations — is not a bad option, just so you denied entry and promptly deported, or, if you do slip or airport hotel, keep your bags locked up securely, stay know that it will be open all night long and have trains or through entry immigration, you could be charged with buses going and coming throughout the night. If, after where there are other people, trust your instincts, and an overstay upon departure. Currently, the penalties that doing research, you can absolutely determine that the take naps throughout the day to make up for the crappy Switzerland is giving out for visa overstays are fines of up nights of sleep which will be inevitable. station will be hopping throughout the night than I would to 500 CHF as well as 3 to 5 year bans from the entire not hesitate to bed down there on the benches as a Schengen region. Switzerland has a reputation for being contingency plan. I would recommend being vigilant Visa Overstay or No Stuff one of the toughest countries in the entire zone on visa about theft and padlock close your bags and then use Dear Vagabond, overstays, so if you do not want to risk a relatively large a bicycle lock to firmly attach them to the bench that I am a Canadian citizen and do not need a visa to fine and a lengthy ban from mainland western Europe you choose to sleep on. Also, be sure to wake up at then I would not recommend returning any time soon. enter Switzerland. I stayed in Switzerland over three intervals throughout the night to make sure that there months and then visited my aunt in England for two Rather, return home and wait out the full amount of time are still people around and to change positions through weeks, leaving all my stuff behind in Switzerland. that you need to be outside of the Schengen zone before the station to stave off suspicious characters. Use good Can I return to Switzerland now to retrieve my stuff returning to pick up your possessions in Switzerland, as street sense here and don’t trust anyone, as stations and stay for about 1 month before leaving to return visa runs in this part of Europe are no longer possible. are often where the worst hustlers of a country hang out. home?

For more information on Europe’s Schengen region, go to Here is a page that has more tips for staying in the vagabondjourney.com/travelguides/schengen-visa-questions/ Thank you, bus station hotel: vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/ For all of your tough travel questions, feel free to ask Confused Canadian bus-station-hotel-mexico/

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the Vagabond at vagabondjourney.com/travelhelp

vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

VAGABOND EXPLORER CHALLENGE Vagabond Explorer magazine challenges you to leave conventional travel behind, get out in the open air, off the tourist trail, and take a trip... vagabond style. There are three main elements to travel — transportation, food, and accommodation — and the Vagabond Explorer Challenge is an invitation to readers to seek out self-sufficient, creative, and cheaper means of obtaining these three travel essentials. This is a challenge to hitchhike, tramp, bicycle, camp, scavenge, and work your way through a journey — and then return here to tell us the story!

Take the Challenge!

To participate in the Vagabond Explorer Challenge, just head out for a period of travel that lasts at least for two days and one night using creative and self-sufficient means for getting what you want and need. This means hitchhiking, bicycling, or hiking rather than taking public transport; obtaining food by working for it, trading, dumpster diving, or scavenging rather than buying it from shops and restaurants; and camping on the sly, trading work, or using hospitality sites rather than paying for accommodation. Once this journey is complete, all you need to do is tell us the tale!

Steps for Participation: 1. Take the trip. This can be as simple as a weekend bicycle journey in your home region or as complex as a jungle expedition. The travel tactics and strategies employed during the trip are what is of essence, not the location. So even if you are not currently abroad or even traveling, you can still participate in the Vagabond Explorer challenge: just walk out of your front door and go.

2. Write the story. The story should typically be a nonfiction first person narrative about where you went, what you did, and how you did it.

How the Winner is Chosen:

The winner of the Vagabond Explorer Challenge will be selected by both readers and a panel of judges. Readers vote by submitting Facebook likes and Twitter tweets for their favorite stories, and then between the dates of September 15 and 30th polls are opened to vote for the overall best. On October The Vagabond Explorer 1st, the judges will vote for their favorite stories and all the Facebook likes, Challenge Rules: Twitter tweets, and reader votes will be tal1. No retro-active stories. The journey must not have lied together to determine the winner. already happened. To enter the challenge you must go out and live the adventure right now. The Vagabond The Vagabond Explorer Challenge is about breaking Explorer challenge officially opens on June 15th and cycles of conventional travel, getting out of the tourwill last for three months until September 15th. ism bubble, and exploring seldom visited places of the 2. The journey must be for at least one overnight, but planet. So tempt chance and serendipity, look the world in the face, and use creative means to navigate the open can be for as long as you want beyond this. road as self-sufficiently and freely as possible. We will 3. You must obtain each element of travel — food, transportation, and accommodation — at least one see you out there.

time each through unconventional means and then 3. Use multimedia. Photography is taking into account demonstrate how you did this in your story. in the voting algorithm, both implicitly and explicitly.

4. The story must be original, not published elseVideo footage is also a big plus. where, and submitted for publication on 4. Go to vagabondjourney.com/travelogue/vagabondvagabondjourney.com/travelogue/ explorer-challenge/ for further instructions on how to 5. Stories must be entered by September 15, 2011, publish your story and photos. and the winner will be announced on October 1st.

5. Tell your friends to give social media cues and vote for the stories they like best!

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Win $100 USD and have your article published in the next issue of Vagabond Explorer Magazine!

For more information go to vagabondjourney.com/ travelogue/vagabond-explorer-challenge/ Get updates on the Vagabond Explorer Challenge by following us on Twitter and Facebook.

vagabondjourney.com/magazine/ t Vol. 1, 2011

Vagabond  Explorer